Effect of Temperature on Membrane Permeability Beetroot

Effect of Temperature on Membrane Permeability Beetroot In this investigation I shall find out the relationship between the amounts of leakage of beetroot pigment into water under various range of temperatures. Furthermore, I will also investigate if there is a correlation between absorbency and temperature. Hypothesis Since the temperatures are high, it is possible that the phospholipids in the cell membrane will move faster. This will inevitably result in the membrane becoming for permeable. Therefore, I predict that, there will be a positive relationship between permeability and temperature. I also predict that there will be a positive correlation between the two variables, which means as the temperature increases the absorbency will inevitably increase. Null Hypothesis There will be no relationship between the rise in temperature and the amount of beetroot pigment leaking into the water. To give me a visual perception of my obtained results compared to that of the two other groups, I will represent the results in a form of a scatter diagram/graph. I will use the Spearman Rank Statistical test to carry out a statistical analysis of my results. This will allow me to establish a significant relationship between the two sets of data, which are the temperature and the absorbency. To work out the significant relationship I will be using the following formula: Rц¢ = 1 6 ∑D ² N = no. of pairs of measurements that I have, which is 7. n (n ² 1) Rц¢ = 1 6 x 2 n (n ² 1) Rц¢ = 1 6 x 2 7 (7 ² 1) Rц¢ = 1 12 336 Rц¢ = 0.96 I have been provided with a table, which indicates that for every n value there is a critical value. For 7 pairs of measurements the critical value is 0.79. If Rц¢ is greater than or equal to the critical value indicated in the table, than there is a significant relationship between my sets of data. Rs = 0.96 > 0.79. This indicates that there is a correlation between temperature and the absorbency. I also know that I have a positive correlation, as 0.96 is a positive value. I also need to work carry out a Spearmans rank test using my average value of absorbency, which includes my own set of results as well as the two other pooled results. Rs from my average value of absorbency is identical to the previous Rs. This clearly means that I have successfully managed to support the fact that there is a positive correlation between absorbency and temperature. Therefore, I can discard my Null Hypothesis, which states otherwise. The first graph, which is a scatter diagram of pool results, displays my results alongside with two other students. By carefully comparing the graph I have noticed that all the results indicate the same pattern of a positive correlation. However, I have noticed that one set of results had produced an anomalies result. Therefore, I intend to discuss possible limitation and problems, which may have caused this. The graph as well as the statistical analysis both indicates that my prediction was correct, and as a result of this I can discard my null hypothesis. Scientific Knowledge In the cells of a beetroot plant, substances called anthocyanin, which are common plant pigments, is contained within the plasma membrane. This substance is a glycosides that is water-soluble with some of the sugar groups removed. The red/purple color of the organism is produced from the anthocyanin, which in turn contains a positive charge distributed over the chemical ring system. A damaged beetroot cell with a broken membrane would initiate the anthocyanin bleeding out of the cell like a dye. This aspect could be used to test the conditions that affect the integrity of the cell membrane. The cell membrane in a beetroot plant is made up of a phospholipids bi-layer, which forms a fluid mosaic structure. If the temperature were increased the cell membrane would gain high kinetic energy and vibrate vigorously, causing the phospholipids bi-layer to break, which in turn would increase the size of the pores. As a result, when the temperature continues to raise the plasma membrane of the beetroot cell will rupture. This due to the fact that the phospholipids bi-layer, which forms the cell membrane, is made of proteins, and as the kinetic theory states; with increased temperature molecules in the protein will receive high energy and vibrate vigorously. For that reason, above the optimum temperature, the bonds holding the protein structure together will be broken, thus the proteins are denatured. This means at higher temperatures more of the pigment or anthocyanin would leak out, in turn increasing the rate of diffusion. As a result I have decided to find out the temperature v ariable and use the colour change, caused by the anthocyanin as the independent variable. The results, which I received, seem to support this fact, in that as the temperature increased the percentage transmission of light read by the colorimeter decreased. Evaluation of Evidence The graph produced from my results seem to illustrate the same trend as the two pooled results, which is that there is a direct proportionality between the increase in temperature and the absorbance. This indicates that my results were somewhat reliable. Throughout the experiment I used a syringe for measuring volume, which consequently would have increased precision, as this assured the measurements used were to the nearest millimetre. Moreover, I also used a stopwatch, which ensured that the time in which I allowed each set of beetroot discs to be heated in water was kept constant. I also used the same cork borer to cut out each beetroot cylinder, which indicates that all the beetroot cylinder should have been more or less identical to each other.

Rate of Treatment Failure among Tuberculosis Patients

Rate of Treatment Failure among Tuberculosis Patients ABSTRACT Treatment failure in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) poses a great danger to the global effort in control of tuberculosis. This study evaluated prevalence of treatment failure among PTB patients at a tertiary care teaching hospital in Pakistan. Consecutive patients of smear positive PTB patients managed between February 2011 to October 2013 at the directly observed therapy (Tuberculosis) unit of our hospital were enrolled for the study. Sputum specimens were collected from each patient at entry for Acid Fast Bacilli microscopic examination and repeated at the end of 2nd (in category I cases only), 3rd (in category II cases only), 5th and 7th month of treatment. Of the 144 patients recruited, 124 patients consisting of 53 (42.74%) males and 71 (57.26%) females aged 14-85 years completed the study. Ninety three (75 %) of the patients were New (category I) at entry while 31 (25%) were Retreatment cases (category II). Among 124 smear positive patients at baseline, 22 (17.74%), 6(4.84%) and 6(4.84%) patients remained positive after 2nd (in category I patients only) and 3rd (in category II cases only), 5th and 7th month of treatment respectively. In conclusion, there is considerable treatment failure rate (4.84%) among our smear positive TB patients; and this poses a great danger to healthcare personnel and close contacts in the community. Key words: Pulmonary tuberculosis, prevalence, treatment failure. INTRODUCTION: About two billion or nearly a third of the world’s population is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis.(1) The global prevalence of TB was an estimated 14 million, with 9.4 million incident cases and 1.3 million deaths among HIV-negative cases for the year 2009. (2) Eighty-five percent of the 9 million people infected with TB each year live in the developing countries. (2) Whereas more women of child bearing age die of Tuberculosis than from all causes of maternal mortality combined.(3) TB incidence has tripled in high HIV prevalence countries in the last two decades with a slight decline in 2009. Globally, in people living with AIDS, one out of every four deaths is due to TB; globally 380,000 people died of HIV associated TB in 2009. Persons co-infected with TB and HIV are 20-30 times more likely to develop active TB disease than persons without HIV. Globally, 440,000 MDR TB cases were estimated in 2009 (8). There are 27 high MDR TB burden countries contributing 86% of the MDR TB case burden. Pakistan falls on number 4 among these high MDR TB burden countries.(2) Currently Pakistan stands 5th amongst the 22 high TB burden countries which account for about 81 % of all estimated TB cases around the globe. (4) Pakistan contributes about 63% of tuberculosis burden in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. According to WHO, the incidence of sputum positive TB cases in Pakistan is 97/100,000 per year and for all types it is 231/100,000 or around 420,000 new cases each year. The prevalence of the disease is much higher and is estimated at 373/100,000 population or 670,000 cases.(5) TB is responsible for 5.1 percent of the total national disease burden in Pakistan. The impact of TB on socio economic status is substantial.(6) Sputum smear-positive patients are the most potent sources of infection and, without chemotherapy, have poor outcomes, as about two-thirds of them die within 2-3 years of developing disease. (Ten years case fatality rate of HIV negative untre ated smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis is 70%, while that for smear negative cases is 20%). (7) Non-completion of treatment has serious consequences, including ongoing infectiousness and development of drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The problem of resistance results from treatment that is inadequate, often because of an irregular drug supply, inappropriate regimens, or poor compliance. Drug resistance is a potential threat to tuberculosis-control programs throughout the world. (8) Materials and methods The study was carried out in a tertiary care teaching hospital in  Pakistan. The research proposal was approved by the Ethics and Review Committee of the hospital. Informed consent was obtained from the patients. The hospital has a TB clinic which is supported by the National Tuberculosis Control Programme Pakistan. Laboratory services for sputum microscopy and the drug regimens are provided according to National Tuberculosis Control Programme protocol. Consecutive patients who presented at the TB clinic of the hospital with smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis were enrolled. Sociodemographic data such as age, sex, marital status and occupation were recorded. Patients of age less than 5 years were excluded. Before enrolling into the study, the patients were well informed about the consequences and potential predictors of treatment failure such as treatment compliance. Pretreatment sputum specimens were collected from each patient for acid fast bacilli (AFB) examination. Patients were categorized as New cases (category I) and Retreatment cases (category II) on the basis of history of previous anti TB treatment. All patients were followed up to completion of eight months TB treatment. Sputum examinations were repeated at 2nd month (in case of category I only), 3rd month (in case of category II only), 5th month and 7th month of treatment. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS 16.0 version. Results A total of 144 patients were recruited during the study period (between February 2011 and October 2013). Twenty patients were either transferred out or lost to follow up. One hundred and twenty four patients who completed their treatment at the centre were evaluated. There were 93(75%) New cases (category I) and 31(25%) Retreatment cases (category II). There were 71 (57.26%) females and 53(42.74%) males aged between 14 and 85 years. Majority of the patients (47.58%) were aged above 45 years with 6 patients above 80 years. Table 2 shows the age group distribution of sputum positive pulmonary TB patients on entry. Repeat sputum AFB results in study participants are presented in figure 1. Of the 124 patients who were sputum positive at baseline, 6 (4.84%) patients were AFB smear positive after 5 months therapy revealing the prevalence of treatment failure in these patients. Our study showed that TB affects mainly the middle and elderly age in our environment (47.58% of the patients managed were above age 45 years). This finding is also observed in some studies from the developed countries (9), While in developing countries it affects mainly the young age group. (10) One reason may be the changing circumstances in the less developed countries and further large scale studies may highlight the issue. Greater percentage of our study population was females which again is different from studies in our region. (10,11) Treatment failure rate among our patients was 4.84%. Though this is lower tthan reported in many studies we still need to further improve it (The cure rate of tuberculosis among Category I patients in our study was more than the cure rate reported by studies from Bangalore (65.7%) and Tamil Nadu (75%). (12,13) The World Health Organization guidelines have recommended achieving cure rate of 85%. The smear positive TB patients pose a significant risk to members of the public, close relatives, and health care staff who treat these patients. They are the focus for infection control measures, and contact investigations. This type of patient must be isolated because of risk of transmitting microbes. Treatment failure increases the risk further. These are the cases where there are much chances of drug resistance including multidrug resistance and extended drug resistance. ((((All 3 failure patients who underwent DST testing had MDR-TB, while 3 of 22 of relapse patients and 0 of 5 default patients tested did. While these DST results were only available for three failure patients and, therefore, not representative, these data and those from other studies suggest that MDR ri sk is not uniform among retreatment subgroups, with increased prevalence of MDR among patients with initial treatment failure. (14-16) Drug resistance is a global health concern and effective programmatic therapy of the smear positive cases is one of the cornerstones in its prevention. Facilities for rapid detection of rifampicin resistance are being made available throughout the country which can help in early detection of drug resistant cases. Physicians involved in TB management need to be involved in its programmatic management and timely referrals for testing resistance in appropriate cases. Taken together, these findings support use of DST in all retreatment patients, earlier DST testing in those with clinical and microbiological indications of impending treatment failure, and use of second-line drugs for retreatment of patients with initial treatment failure until DST results are known.(17) Recently, total drug-resistant tuberculosis has been described in which some patients with TB infection were completely unresponsive to all TB drugs. This is a big blow to the global effect in control of TB. On the other hand, additional burdens of isolation and stigmatization on the patients are enormous. (18) Noncompliance to treatment, deficient patient knowledge/health education, drug quality, and other comorbidities like diabetes mellitus and HIV infection had been identified as major predictors of treatment failure in patients with TB. These factors were not considered in our study participants. According to observations made in many countries, only directly observed therapy is capable of improving treatment outcomes. (19-22) The effectiveness of the DOTS strategy is also confirmed by our own studies. In conclusion, there is still considerable treatment failure rate among TB patients managed in our tuberculosis clinic. There is need for provision of facility for sputum culture for detection of patients with drug resistant TB cases. Policies on the management of tuberculosis need to be reviewed and strengthened in order to reduce open TB cases in the community.

An Analysis Of The Video Like A Prayer By Madonna :: essays research papers

An Analysis of the Video "Like A Prayer" by Madonna Madonna first arrived in the national popular culture in 1984 with her song "Borderline". She moved very quickly in the ensuing years to make several records (many of which have gone multi-platinum) and to take several world tours with sold-out concerts, and has caused quite a bit of controversy in what she has done in the public eye. Examples include posing nude for Penthouse magazine (and announcing afterwards that she was not ashamed for doing it), marrying (and subsequently divorcing) actor and media-avoider Sean Penn, creating a fashion trend (which was primarily popular with teenage girls), and making truly atrocious movies which the critics hated and the people refused to see (the only two exceptions are Dick Tracy and Truth or Dare, her controversial yet fascinating self-documentary about her tour of the same name). It seems that Madonna seems to enjoy attention, good or bad, and it seems like she feeds on her own controversy. Her songs, and the music videos which accompany them, are no exception to this. However, the things she does and the images she projects requests contemporary society to reflect on itself, and to possibly re-create itself in innovative and inventive styles. Perhaps she always breaks with convention because she sees things in a different light than the rest of society. This essay shall focus on the video which accompanies the title track from her 1989 album, "Like A Prayer," which certainly had its share of controversy. Probably the most startling image in the music video was that of several burning crosses on a lawn or a hill. These crosses were in the background, while Madonna was facing the camera and singing. When I saw the music video for the first time, this particular section of the video made me sit up and intently watch my television screen. The first things I thought about were, "She's a very outspoken woman for doing this! Boy, she's got a lot of nerve! I believe she was raised Catholic, and she's making a mockery of the Catholic Church by doing so! The Pope would be offended, to say the least!" The radical approach to dispose of any religion (or a person's religious or pious fervor) is at least shocking. The cross is the symbol of Christianity and all it stands for. Seeing the cross engulfed in fire -- which symbolizes (and is) a destructive force -- would be very disturbing for anyone to see, Christian or not. I sat up and took notice, and I'm not even Christian -- I am Jewish. Furthermore, the fact that

Setting in Greasy Lake by T. Coraghessan Boyle Essay -- Greasy Lake T.

Greasy Lake by T. Coraghessan Boyle Nature has a powerful way of portraying good vs. bad, which parallels to the same concept intertwined with human nature. In the story â€Å"Greasy Lake† by T. Coraghessan Boyle, the author portrays this through the use of a lake by demonstrating its significance and relationship to the characters. At one time, the Greasy Lake was something of beauty and cleanliness, but then came to be the exact opposite. Through his writing, Boyle demonstrates how the setting can be a direct reflection of the characters and the experiences they encounter. The lake itself plays a major role throughout the story, as it mirrors the characters almost exactly. For example, the lake is described as being â€Å"fetid and murky, the mud banks glittering with broken glass and strewn with beer cans† (125). The characters are also described as being â€Å"greasy† or â€Å"dangerous† several times, which ties the lake and the characters together through their similarities. The narrator explains, â€Å"We were bad. At night we went up to Greasy Lake† (124). This demonstrates the importance that the surroundings in which the main characters’ choose to be in is extremely important to the image that they reflect. At the beginning of the story, these characters’ images and specifically being â€Å"bad† is essentially all that mattered to them. â€Å"We wore torn up leather jackets†¦drank gin and grape juice†¦sniffed glue and ether and what somebody claimed was cocaine† (124). They went out of their ...

Compare the two nineteenth century horror stories Essay

Compare the two nineteenth century horror stories, ‘The Black Cat’ and ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ by Edgar Allan Poe, showing how Poe uses a range of techniques to make his stories dramatic and effective. ‘The Black Cat’ and ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ are two of the earliest horror stories ever written; they were written in the 1840’s by the American author Edgar Allan Poe. Poe was born in Boston Massachusetts in 1809. He tragically died in 1849 following a life of alcohol and drugs. ‘The Black Cat’ tells us about a man who is in a condemned cell. He is on death row and reflecting on his life and the reason behind the situation he is in. He tells the reader about his love for animals and how he married early in life. His wife allowed him to buy a black cat who never left his master’s side. However, the narrator tells how he became an alcoholic and started to mistreat his wife and pets. On returning home one night he seized the cat and in fright the cat had bitten him. This made him angry and therefore he cut out one of the cat’s eyes. A few days later he took the cat, slipped a noose around its neck and hung it from a limb of a tree. That night the house burnt down and engraved on the wall was the figure of a cat. Later on in the story the narrator tells us of how he found a cat that closely resembled the one he had killed. The cat would never leave his side which started to make him hate the creature. He was walking down the steps of the cellar one day with his wife when the cat followed and sent him headlong down the steps. In fury he picked up an axe and aimed a blow at the cat. His wife tried to stop him so he buried the axe into her brain. He buried the body in the wall of the cellar. The police found the body as the man become cocky and tapped on the wall where he had buried his wife, there was a wailing sound and the police uncovered the body with the cat on the corpses head. ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ tells us about a man who has been accused of being mad. He looked after an old man who had a ‘vulture eye’. His eye was a pale blue and had a film over it. Whenever the eye fell upon the narrator, it made his blood run cold. Therefore he decided to kill the old man. In the week before he killed him the narrator tells us about how he crept into the old man’s bedroom every night at midnight, trying to find the right moment to kill him. On the eighth night the old man became aware that someone was in his room. The narrator says how he could hear the man’s heart beating in his chest and was frightened that the neighbours would hear it. He ran into the room; seized the man out of his bed and pulled the bed on top of him. He then took the planks from the flooring of the bedroom and placed the body there. Once he had replaced the floorboards the police arrived saying that a neighbour had heard a shriek and they wished to search the property. He led them towards the old man’s bedroom and placed some chairs out for them on the exact spot of the body. He began to make typical chat with the officers but could hear the heart of the old man beating louder and louder until it drew the narrator mad and he confessed to the murder. Both stories have typical features of a modern horror story – blood, murder, the murders conscience and supernatural aspects. However, the structure of the stories differ. ‘The Black Cat’ is a longer story and is more detailed. It includes more background description. â€Å"I was especially fond of animals, and was indulged by my parents with a great variety of pets.† This quote shows that ‘The Black Cat’ tells us about the background of the narrator since he was a young boy. ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ is more concise and includes some very detailed sections but less background. â€Å"Presently, I heart a slight groan, and I knew it was the groan of mortal terror. It was not a groan of pain or of grief — Oh no! It was a low stifled sound that arises from the bottom of the soul when overcharged with awe.† This quote shows that ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ has some very detailed sections as the narrator goes into depth about the noise that the old man made. The two narrators have various things in common; they both tell the story in first person and use eyes as an important feature in the story. In the opening paragraph both narrators also say that they have been accused of madness but deny the accusation. â€Å"Mad indeed would I be to expect it, In a case where my very senses reject their own evidence. Yet, mad am I not.† This quote from ‘The Black Cat’ supports my point that the narrator has been accused of being mad but denies it. â€Å"But why WILL you say that I am mad?† This quote from ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ also supports my point as it is from the opening paragraph of the story and the narrator is asking why he is being accused of being mad. The significant differences between the two narrators are; ‘The Black Cat’ gives a more in-depth background about his life before the present day whereas ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ goes straight into the present. ‘The Black Cat’ is also set in different rooms of the house and other areas where as ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ is set in just one room. The relationship between the readier is also different. ‘The Black Cat’ is wrote as if the narrator is writing a letter whereas ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ is wrote as if the narrator is actually speaking to the reader. â€Å"For the most wild, yet most homely narrative which I am about to pen.† These words suggest to me that ‘The Black Cat’ tells the story as if he is writing a letter. â€Å"How then am I mad?† This rhetorical question shows that the narrator tells the story as if he is actually talking to the reader. The two narrators in the story get caught as they become too over confident about the hiding place of their victims. They both lead the police to the place that the bodies are buried. Sound is also a major part in the reason for the two narrators getting caught. Poe uses a range of visual and sound techniques to make the stories dramatic and effectible. In both stories sound plays a major part in the narrator’s getting caught. â€Å"Then quickly swelling into one long, loud and continuous scream, utterly anomalous and inhuman.† This quote from ‘The Black Cat’ suggests to me that the points I have made are correct. The sound makes the story more dramatic and suspicious. It also leads the police to the corpse. â€Å"But the beating of the heart grew louder, LOUDER! I thought the heart must burst.† This quote also suggests to me that the beating of the heart made the murderer go mad and confess. It also adds an eerie effect to the story. Poe also uses visual description in the stories. â€Å"The corpse, already greatly decayed and clotted with gore, stood erect before the eyes of the spectators. Upon its head, with red extended mouth and solitary eyes of fire†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This phrase of writing from ‘The Black Cat’ goes into great visual detail about the corpse which makes it a lot easier to picture the story in your head. The amount of description sets the scene very effectively and makes the reader feel like there telling the story from their own personal experience. The use of evil words such as ‘greatly decayed’ and ‘clotted with gore’ also emphasise the fear and terror of the story. Poe uses a range of imagery in the stories; including alliteration, similes, metaphors, onomatopoeias, and rhetorical questions. These all make the stories dramatic and keep the reader interested. In ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ Edgar Allan Poe uses a lot of onomatopoeia and metaphors. â€Å"my blood ran cold† This quote proves the point that Poe uses metaphors in this story. â€Å"Like the thread of a spider† This also proves that Poe uses Similes in this story. Both of these enhance the story as they make it more dramatic and effective. In ‘The Black Cat’ Edgar Allan Poe uses a lot of alliteration, metaphors and personification. â€Å"My tenderness of heart† This quote is particularly important as later on in the story the narrators heart is the complete opposite from tender. â€Å"Grew with my growth† This quote from the story shows alliteration. By using both of these quotes the writer is making the story more effective as he is making it more interesting to read. He is also encourage interpretation from the reader and helping them to feel the emotion of the characters. Poe also uses language devices to make the stories dramatic and effective. These include rhythm, repetition, and rhetorical questions. In ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’. Edgar Allan Poe uses a large amount of rhetorical questions. â€Å"How then am I mad?† This is effective in the story as it involves the reader. It does so by encouraging the reader to reflect upon the question and therefore get involved more with the story. Poe also uses repetition. â€Å"He had found all in vain. All in vain; because Death, in approaching him†¦.† The repetitive phrase all in vain, tells us of the narrators joy at the old mans terror. He also uses a capital ‘D’ in death. This infers he is using death as a name, suggesting that the old man is death. In ‘The Black Cat’ Poe uses plenty of rhythm and repetition. â€Å"Have terrified — Have tortured — Have destroyed me.† In this quote Edgar Allan Poe has repeated the word ‘have’. He has used a rhythm by pausing at the end of each word and the dashes indicate an intensity of emotions. He has also used evil words such a ‘terrified’ and ‘tortured’ which again emphasise the fear and terror of the story. This makes the story more dramatic. In both stories Poe also uses capital letters to emphasise words this gives an immediate dramatic impact. In conclusion, Poe uses a range of techniques to make his stories dramatic and effective, many of these are still used by horror writers today. Although ‘The Black Cat’ and ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ are similar in numerous ways, Poe uses different techniques in each one to make the stories effective in their own particular way.

Religion Terms Chapter 3 (Social Justice)

1. Praxis: Living according to one’s belief, not just in private, but also in a way that affects the world. a. Through this critical appropriation critical praxis becomes a possibility.2. Circle of faith in action: The approach to doing justice that we will examine, which borrows the aspects of the circle of praxis and A Call to Action. b. People all around are called to follow the circle of faith in action to help make the world a better place.3. Awareness: Seeing, hearing, and knowing the world in a spirit of friendship, as God does. c. We are called to spread awareness of the problems people are facing in the world, so we can help them.4. Worldview: The beliefs that guide the way someone relates to the world. d. People around the world have different worldviews on how things may affect them, good or bad.5. Culture: All of the shared values, beliefs, and ways of relating and living together that characterizes a particular group of people. e. Understanding another’s cu lture is one way to bring people closer.6. Respect: To look beyond the outer appearances and first impressions to see the goodness that is the foundation of all God’s creation f. If we want to be respected, we must first respects ourselves.7. Analysis: The process of understanding how people’s lives are affected by the relationships that shape the society in which they live. g. Before we try to approach the problem, we must first go through the process of analysis.8. Interdependent: Depending on one another for our existence. h. We live in an interdependent world where everyone need one another.9. Relationship map: Shows the connection between people that shape our society. i. Everyone’s relationship can be seen in the link of the relationship map. 10. Social structure: The patterns that shape any society. j. Many people say that the social structure of out society are somewhat corrupted.11. Structure of sin: The individuals’ decisions that contribute to the social structure that block justice. k. Our bad decisions are the structures of sin.12. Power: God-given ability everyone has to affect their own lives; lives of others, and the world around them in either positive or negative ways. l. Everyone thirsts for power over others, but little do they know that sometimes is brings pain to them.13. Power-over: The belief that human beings are the source of their own power recalls the Original Sin of the first humans, who believe that they could become their own God. (If power is given, it can also be taken) m. Many corporations long for power-over, because they are always fighting to become the top company in the world.14. Power-with: Everyone has God-given power, because we live in an interdependent world, that power is mean t to be shared in relationships with others. n. God wants his creations to have power-with instead of longing to have all the power to their selves because power-with can help bring the relationship between everyone stronger.15. Boycott: Withdrawal from commercial or social relations with (a country, organization, or person) as a punishment or protest. o. Throughout history, there have been many boycotts regarding because people have been treated unfairly.16. Strike: Refusal to work as a form of organized protest, typically in an attempt to obtain a particular concession or concessions from their employer. p. Many strikes have taken place because employees are not happy with the way they are treated by their employers,17. Action: To change the situation in a way that allows all the people who are involved to experience the good life that the Creator planned for them. q. People should take the action of helping to increase peace and health in the world.18. Direct action: Action that occurs on the level of individual relationships and is aimed at meeting an immediate need. r. When we do direct action, we can immediately help those in need.19. Social action: Action that occurs on a level of social structure. s. When social action is taking place, we can spread the awareness of the problem to people who pay no attention to such horrors in the world.20. Basic ecclesial communities: Small groups of Christians who gather to celebrate the liturgy, hear the Scripture, discuss problems they face in society, and find solutions through inspiration of the Gospel. t. Basic ecclesial communities gather together to help those in need through ideas from the Gospel.21. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi: Took seriously Jesus’ instructions to love the enemy; developed own ideas about how to act on Jesus’ teachings. u. M.K. Gandhi was a very influential man from India.22. Non-violent non-cooperation: Gandhi’s approach of protesting, striking, and boycotting. v. Gandh i’s non-violent non-cooperation was a way of protesting without aggression of the protestors that may start violence.23. Civil disobedience: intentionally breaking laws that are unjust. w. Civil disobedience can be seen as breaking a law but not actually breaking a law because it was already broken in the first place.

Kevin Stevenson retires as AASB Chair Essay

This article is concerned with the accomplishments and achievements of Kevin Stevenson upon his retirement as the Chairman of the Australian Accounting Standards Board on 30th June 2014. During his tenure, Kevin Stevenson ensured that the long traditions of financial reporting were upheld both internationally and domestically and also provided counsel on issues concerning the FRC. Mr. Stevenson was an example of pioneer standard setters for generations down the line as he was among the founding members of the Accounting Standards Advisory Forum of the International Accounting Standards Board. Through his leadership, the AASB’s Research Centre was established as Stevenson served the Asian-Oceanian Standard Setters Group’s chair. His main focus was to work in the interest of the public, as stated by Lynn Wood, the FRC’s chair and trustee of the IFRS Foundation. In concurrence is Ian Mackintosh, the former Chair of the PSASB of Australia and Deputy Chair of IASB. Ac cording to Mackintosh, Stevenson largely contributed in the moves by Asia countries like Nepal and Korea to the IFRS. From the onset of the 1970s, Mr. Stevenson’ attention was driven towards setting ‘principal based’ standards and developing a Conceptual Framework to be used in financial reporting. He advocated for accounting regulations as evidenced by his association with the Accounting Research Foundation and later on watched over the growth of the AARF upon being appointed its Director. He was at the forefront of setting the international pace in the development of common accounting standards for both the public and the private sectors. Stevenson largely contributed to the formation of the Public Sector Accounting and also played a significant role in the establishment of the stable platform of International Financial Reporting Standards in 2005 for adoption in Australia and the entire Europe. Concepts, ideas and facts                      Teamwork and leadership are two important components that must be in alignment so as to provide effective high quality and efficient accounting services. A strategic human resource management model provides guidance to accounting teams and leaders to deliver high-quality services in a timely manner. Accounting operates within a performance measurement that tolerates no errors. Therefore, a state-of-the-art investigation requires scientific leadership working with major stakeholders as a team to provide the best accounting services to a fraud investigation. The new techniques of accounting are significant steps in the right direction and they require leaders with skills and business tools to apply concepts such as efficiency, cost benefit analysis, economies of scale and cost-effectiveness analysis that will measure continuous improvement on a regular basis. Effective leadership is needed to develop, design and implement a solution that would resolve the core competency of an organization. Strategic leadership in accounting provides quality and timely accounting services to a company. Such leadership like that o Stevenson brings together a fragmented system consisting of thousands of accountants working within a fragmented system of organizations. Effective teamwork and leadership in accounting shows the way through the development of new innovative fraud investigations for the future. Leaders in positions like that of Stevenson are encouraged to consider both the social and moral implications of their decisions with regard to how their decisions will affect the clients and shareholders of the company. It is the ethical responsibility of every employee to ensure their company does not illegally evade income taxes or allow questionable deductions. They should ensure that the company finds are allocated to the appropriate activities based on their importance and determine the important elements of the business. The accounting issue                      One major way of improving the confidence in financial reporting and accounting is to ensure that there is improvement in ethical standards, reporting mechanisms, strengthening of governance and adequacy of financial management. It is ethical to maintain the right to the truth while practicing accounting and financial reporting. Those who use financial statements have the right to accurate and truthful information when engaging in investment strategies. Clients have a legal right to receive competent and professional services from accountants who have a legal obligation to perform their responsibilities within the constraints of their skills. It is often argued that most accountants lack ethical ability to recognize and solve ethical dilemmas. This has necessitated the need to include ethics education as a major component of the accounting profession. The development of professional ethics and values should be initiated early in the accounting profe ssion and be emphasized throughout the career. Major issue of the article                      Stevenson clearly shows that it is the responsibility of management to serve the best interests of the company that they are providing auditing and accounting services for, investors and society as a whole. This can be done by providing truthful and accurate financial records. Ethical guidelines require that management should be honest, concise, accurate and complete while recording financial data to ensure ethics are held to the highest degree. It is also the duty of every employee to make wise, informed decisions about the future of a company. These accounting standards are useful in financial reporting and accounting as they are processes that are currently under a great deal of scrutiny. The two are important functions that organizations should take care of and ensure that they exhibit a high code of ethics. This is because clients and shareholders use accounting and financial reports in their decision making process. Legal and ethical issues ar e important elements of financial reporting and accounting as has been demonstrated by the positions assumed by Mr. Stevenson. These issues prompted Stevenson to establish financial reporting and accounting departments to set up specific sets of rules that govern the functioning of any organization. Relevant topics and theories                      The long traditions of financial reporting applied Positive Accounting theory by focusing on various aspects that are of major interest to accounting techniques and the issues that provided an informative background and the gives in depth details of the functionality of accounting in financial reporting. Positive Accounting gives a holistic description of what is currently unknown and proposes future considerations. Financial reporting and accounting apply to any economic entity relating to the company’s future business. The major ethical elements involved are objectivity, competence, independence and integrity. These ethical elements require that accountants and financial reporters are independent of the clients to whom they provide financial and accounting services. Ethical obligations help to determine the effectiveness of accounting and financial report and redress any imbalance that may alter information symmetry. The move by Nepal and K orea followed the ethical guidelines of financial reporting and never let the desire for a better living and acquiring more possession get in the way of their financial obligations. It is ethical for any employee of the accounting or financial department working in the public or private sector to remain loyal and impartial to ethical obligations when reviewing both individual and financial reports. It is usual for one to encounter various ethical issues and it is therefore important for one to remain vigilant to resist temptations to manipulate financial records that could violate ethical guidelines. Transparency and integrity are important ethical elements of normative accounting theory. Some companies may receive pressure from management to maintain a certain public image. This is because some public companies have the burden of succeeding at high levels and it becomes an ethical issue for them to maintain true reports of the company assets, profits and liabilities without succumb ing to the pressure from management. It is unethical for management to alter the financial records of its company and manipulate the numbers to create a false image of the success of the company. This only leads to prosperity in the short term since such fraud cases are discovered by the Securities and Exchange Commission ultimately spelling the downfall of the company. For these reasons, accounting theories assert that companies must remain ethically vigilant to avoid breaching the code of conduct. High standards of ethical behavior are expected for those people engaging in accounting and financial reporting. These standards provide rules and guidance to employees in the performance of their professional obligations. Poor decision making by management based on faulty or manipulated financial records aimed at deceiving the public about a company’s financial health has negative consequences on the business. It is therefore unethical for management to overlook such behavior. Gi ven how tempting it is for companies to manipulate their financial records in order to portray an image of economic health, management should provide the last defense possible to prevent accounting fraud. In comment letter 1, the Financial Reporting Committee of the IMA wrote to express its views on financial accounting standards on simplification of the income statement presentation through the elimination of the concept of extraordinary items. The FRC is in charge of several accounting books of different companies this in essence means that they are charged with the responsibility of making timely responses to statements, pronouncements, research legislations, proposals and pending legislations. Their main concern in this letter is the complex nature of financial statements in FASB comment letters. They support the simplication initiative adopted by the board as regards to making the financial statements easier to understand by the common folk CITATION Sch l 1033 (Schroder, 2014). Their support is on the elimination of elimination of extra ordinary items as in most times this criterion is not always met. Their proposal thus rids of the tedious work in the preparation of financial documents and whether this requirement is met by auditors in the process of doing their work. Their support is based on the fact that it reduces to a great extending the complex nature of the time for the allocation of the provision of income tax by reducing the occurrence of other income items occurring. They thus advocate for a thorough examination of the details of this suggested proposal CITATION Sch l 1033 (Schroder, 2014). In comment letter number 2, Marcum Accountants and Advisors write to the FASB regarding the proposed accounting standards through the simplification of the income statement by elimination of the concept of extraordinary items. Their letter is generally a response to several questions regarding the process of simplification of the income statement. They support the concept of elimination of extra ordinary items from the General Accounting principles. Their contention is based on the difficulty of application the extra ordinary items in accounting practice CITATION Giu14 l 1033 (Giugliano, 2014). They thus support the application for extra ordinary items in previous accounting periods. A sudden change of the rules would otherwise lead to confusion in the accounting practice. The ease of application of the proposed update makes it easy to make these recommended changes quite easy to adopt. They thus suggest the immediate adoption of the proposed update. They are in agreement with the decision by the board to stick to the principle of separate disclosure of infrequent transactions. Items must thus meet the definition of occurring infrequently in recurrent expenditure. They list the following examples as those that should not be classified as unusual or infrequently occurring: occupancy related expense, routine tax audit returns and losses and gains from reimbursements from insurance CITATION Giu14 l 1033 (Giugliano, 2014). They thus suggest the importance of offering guidance on the determination of unusual items. Proper definitions should thus be provided of the unusually occurring items. In comment letter 3, Ford Motor Company also writes in support of the simplication initiative by FASB. Their agreement is based on the objective of evaluation, identification and improvement of the generally accepted accounting principles CITATION Cal14 l 1033 (Callahan, 2014). This thus means that the reduction of the cost of complexity is possible with the simplification of the income statement. They are also in agreement with the board that such an update would not lead to data loss. The overall benefit would be to the end users of such financial statements. References Callahan, S. (2014). Ford Company. Giugliano, G. (2014). Marcum Accountants. Schroder, N. (2014). Institute of Management Accounting. Source document