Review of Mobile Presence Services in Social Network Applications

REVIEW ON MOBILE PRESENCE SERVICES IN SOCIAL NETWORK APPLICATIONS Abstraction—Today broad scopes of nomadic devices are available. As the use and engineering of nomadic devices additions, societal web applications are going popular. An indispensable constituent of this societal web application is nomadic presence service, which maintains each nomadic user’s presence information. The presence information means the current position, GPS location of nomadic user and besides updates the user’s online friend’s information. As the update occur often, figure of message distributed by presence waiter may take to scalability job.To specify this job, scalable waiter architecture called PresenceCloud is defined.In cosmopolitan nomadic telecommunication system ( UMTS ) , the presence service is performed by IP multimedia nucleus web subsystem ( IMS ) .A weak consistent scheme is used to cut down the presentment traffic. Presentment clip means clip needed to advise the presence information to other users. This paper makes a reapprais al on work outing buddy list hunt job.The consequence shows that PresenceCloud achieves public presentation addition in the hunt cost without compromising hunt satisfaction. Keywords—social web ; nomadic presence service ; presence information ;I. IntroductionMobile computer science is human-computer by which a computing machine is expected to be transported during normal use. This involved nomadic communicating, hardware etc. Chiefly nomadic calculating describes about communicating among client to server, client to other terminal user, waiter to server etc. Today as the engineering and use of cyberspace additions, societal web application/services ( illustrations are Facebook [ 1 ] , Twitter [ 2 ] , buddycloud [ 3 ] , Google latitude [ 4 ] , foursquare [ 5 ] ) go popular in worldwide. Many communications like confab, online concern, informations sharing etc can be done utilizing societal web application/services. Hence, it is inevitable that societal web services will be the following coevals of nomadic cyberspace application. Mobile presence service is one of the of import component in societal web application. Mobile presence service means maintain up-to day of the month presence information of all nomadic user. Presence information includes location, position, activity etc about the nomadic users. Each nomadic user has a list of friend’s list which we can name as buddy list. On the other manus, we can state that buddy list contains the contact information of the user he/she needs to pass on. Each nomadic user in the societal w eb application gets information about their on-line friends/buddies via the presence information. The nomadic user’s position is broadcast automatically to the buddy list whenever the user moves from one position to another. So presentment is an of import portion in societal web application. Most presence services use server bunch engineering, to maximise hunt velocity and minimise the presentment clip. The waiter involved in this communicating, keeps up-to day of the month path of all these presence information sing the nomadic user. There are so many issues in nomadic computer science. Some are deficient bandwidth, require careful usage of practical private web, cell phone signals may do wellness jobs, signal jobs during going, more power ingestion during less signal strength etc. In cosmopolitan nomadic telecommunication system ( UMTS ) , the presence service is performed by IP multimedia nucleus web subsystem ( IMS ) .Here a weak consistent scheme is used to cut down the presentment traffic. Hence presentment clip can be cut downing. Presentment clip means clip needed to advise the presence information to other users. Instantaneous message provides communicating ( online confab ) between two or more users over cyberspace. Microsoft courier, yahoo courier are some of the illustrations for the instant message. Overview of the available characteristics, maps, architecture, protocols used in these popular populace IM web are described. Besides discuss advantages and disadvantages of these IM webs. In societal web application an efficient and scalable server-to-server sheathing architecture called PresenceCloud is used to better the efficiency of nomadic presence services for large-scale societal web. A quorum-based server-to-server architecture is used for efficient buddy list seeking. The comparing consequence shows that PresenceCloud achieves public presentation additions without giving hunt satisfaction. Search satisfaction is defined as the clip it takes to seek for the geting user’s buddy list.II. Different engineeringsThis subdivision describes assorted method or engineerings used in different systems. Here, foremost describes about different characteristics and maps supported by three most popular IM systems: AIM, Microsoft MSN and Yahoo! Messenger. Second describes, in cosmopolitan nomadic telecommunication system ( UMTS ) web architecture, to cut down the presentment traffic a decrepit consistent strategy called delayed update can be used. Third describes about chord which provide a scalable peer-to-peer search service for internet application. Finally, an efficient and scalable waiter architecture called PresenceCloud is defined. In [ 6 ] describes different maps and characteristics of three IM systems such as AIM, Microsoft MSN and Yahoo Messenger. Instant messaging can be specify a public confab etc. In extra some provide file transportation, webcam use, voice confabs session etc. Here the writer comparing three IM systems ( AIM, Microsoft MSN and Yahoo Messenger ) .All of these IM systems uses client-server architecture. Supporting immense figure of user is an of import issue in these IM systems. Two methods are available: 1 is symmetric and other is asymmetric. Each waiter performs indistinguishable maps in symmetric method and in asymmetric method each waiter execute peculiar activity assigned to it like log in, detecting other users, maintain chat room etc. For normal operation AIM uses client-server architecture and for voice confabs session uses peer-to-peer attack. Therefore two clients communicate straight without utilizing a confab room. For normal and voice confabs YMSG uses client-server architecture. Through centralised voice chat server YMSG voice traffic is routed. One advantage of utilizing this attack is that within the same confab room it can back up multiple users and each user can stipulate their ain voice specification. For normal operation MSN uses client-server architecture and for voice confabs session uses peer-to-peer approach.MSN voice chat session is limited to two individuals. Most of the IM systems have techniques for keeping list of friends. They are called buddy list, allow list and block list. Buddy list contain peoples that a user demand to pass on and supervise their presence. Block list contains peoples that a user demand to barricade communicating with them, it’s besides called black list. Allow li st contains people that a user needs to pass on. MSN, AIM and YMSG contains buddy list and block list.MSN and AIM besides contain allow list. Many web protocols like TCP and IP have used binary representation of informations in byte order. Application bed protocol ( HTTP and SMTP ) have used text-based attack. The advantage of utilizing bye order is that it supports efficient usage of infinite in the web. The advantage of text-based attack is that the representation is closer to human position information and debugging is easier.AIM and YMSG utilizations binary representation for their header.AIM contains two-level binary representation called FLAP and SNAC packages. Fixed length heading and variable length day of the month in FLAP packages. SNAC packages are subtype of FLAP packages that contains fixes length Fieldss followed by a variable information constituent. Fig.1.AIM FLAP and SNAC package format YMSG has individual degree construction for fixed Fieldss followed by variable length Fig.2.YMSG package format One of the of import job in IM suppliers are user send informations at inordinate rate, inundation caused in the web because of useless traffic.TCP provide some protection mechanism against this through congestion control.AIM has a complex algorithm for solve this, but it has different rate ( rates are based on a clip window ) bounds based on message type. The user will be warned, if the client exceeds the rate and if this continues, the waiter will get down dropping message and will unplug the client. YMSG has a bound of three IM per seconds. Another method to minimise the burden is by acquiring rid of idle clients. Each system in IM maintains a keep-alive pulse message: the connexion may be terminated if the client does non supply pulse message or response to the question. In AIM the client must direct this keep-alive message in every minute to the waiter. YMSG contains two types of pulse petition: a primary and a secondary.MSN has client and waiter pulse message. In [ 7 ] paper, to cut down the presentment traffic a decrepit consistent scheme is used. In IP multimedia nucleus web subsystem ( IMS ) , the presence waiter is responsible for advising an authorised spectator of the updated presence information. Presence service provides service to entree other user’s presence information such as the user position, activities and so on. In cosmopolitan nomadic telecommunication system ( UMTS ) web architecture, a user with user equipment entree presence service in IMS. When the user provides information to the presence waiter, so user play the function as presentity and the user accesses other user’s information so it act as a spectator. In IMS, control signaling is carried out by call session control map ( CSCF ) .The presence service process is defined by 3rdcoevals partnership undertaking ( 3GPP ) The presence waiter instantly notifies other users in the contact, when the presence information of a user alterations. If the updates occur more often, so the figure of presentment messages increases. To cut down the presentment traffic a decrepit consistent strategy called delayed update can be used. In delayed update, when the presence waiter receives the updated presence information, the presence waiter starts a delayed timer with a period T. This period is called delayed threshold. Within the period T, if the presence information is updated, so old information is replaced by the new information. When the timer expires, the presence waiter notifies the spectator of the presence information. Therefore, the presentments for the updates in T are saved. In [ 8 ] mentioned about chord which provide a scalable peer-to-peer search service for internet application. A cardinal job that challenges peer-to-peer application is turn uping the node that store a peculiar information point. This paper presents a solution for this by showing chord. The chord provides one operation: given a key, it maps the cardinal onto a node.In peer-to-peer system, the application is distributed without any cardinal control, where the package running equivalent in functionality at each node. The corresponding node is responsible for hive awaying a value associated with the key. Chord uses hashing to delegate keys to allow chord nodes. Each chord node needs merely a few other nodes routing information. Because the routing tabular array is distributed to other nodes. If N-node presented in a system, so each node maintain information merely approximately O ( log N ) other nodes. The chord maintains its routing information as the nodes articulations and leaves a s ystem. In [ 9 ] paper, an efficient and scalable waiter architecture called PresenceCloud is defined. PresenceCloud solve the scalability job called buddy list hunt job. Buddy list hunt job can be defined as the scalability job occurs when presence service is overloaded with buddy hunt message. The PresenceCloud can be used to expeditiously question the system for buddy list hunt. In PresenceCloud design, it consists of three constituents: PresenceCloud waiter sheathing, one-hop caching scheme and directed buddy hunt. When the nomadic user get into the PresenceCloud, the user authenticate to the nomadic presence service. Then the nomadic user opens a TCP connexion to one of the presence waiter. The nomadic user sends a petition to the presence waiter for buddy list hunt. PresenceCloud returns the presence information of the brothers. PresenceCloud is based on grid-quorum system ( size is vn?vn. When a presence waiter joins into the PresenceCloud, it gets an Idaho in the grid and obtains its presence waiter list. Presence server node can take one column and one row of entries. This entry is called the presence waiter list. In the fig: 3, the figure of presence waiter n=9.The PresenceCloud is arranged in grid-quorum with v9?v9 size. The presence waiter node 8 has presence server list { 2,5,7,9 } and 3 has { 1,2,6,9 } . PresenceCloud uses a hoarding scheme to retroflex presence information of each user to better the efficiency of the searching operation. Each presence server node maintains presence information of the affiliated users. When the neighbour establishes a connexion to presence waiter, the cache is updated. When a presence waiter receives a query/request from the nomadic user, it can react non merely from the lucifers from its ain list, but besides provide lucifers from its caches. Fig:3 PresenceCloud Server Overlay The figure of presentment messages increases when the nomadic user often changes its presence information. This buddy list hunt job can be solved by utilizing an algorithm called directed buddy hunt algorithm. This algorithm uses bipartisan sheathing and one-hop caching scheme. This helps PresenceCloud to supply fleet responses for big figure of nomadic user. The algorithm is defined in [ 9 ] .III. ComparisonIn mesh based design, all the presence information at each node is replicated to other nodes. Hence its hunt cost is merely one message. In distributed hash tabular array ( chord based ) , no reproduction ; presence information of a user is merely stored in one presence waiter. Here, each brother must be searched one by one. In PresenceCloud, its hunts buddy list from ain node list and cache list. Besides notifies other users about the new presence information. Simulation consequence is mentioned in [ 9 ] .This paper shows graphical representation of their consequence. Findingss from that graphical representation are: ( I ) As the reaching rate of nomadic user additions, the figure of presence message is really low in PresenceCloud. Hence PresenceCloud outperforms all other design. ( two ) As the reaching rate of nomadic user additions, the mean seeking messages/user is low in PresenceCloud. That means PresenceCloud requires least message transmittal. ( three ) Average message transmittal of PresenceCloud additions bit by bit with the figure of presence waiter. ( four ) Average message transmittal of PresenceCloud is non impacted by the figure of brothers. When analysing hunt satisfaction in waiter architecture, the findings are ; ( I ) Buddy seeking latency grows with the figure of presence waiter in PresenceCloud. Here mesh-based design performs better. ( two ) When the figure of brothers additions, buddy hunt latency is really low in mesh-based design. but suffer to a great extent communicating cost.DecisionFrom the analysis and survey, it’s found that PresenceCloud achieves low hunt latency & A ; shows better public presentation than others. PresenceCloud solve brother list hunt job. Overall, PresenceCloud support a scalable nomadic presence service in big graduated table societal web services.Mentions[ 1 ] Facebook, hypertext transfer protocol: //www.facebook.com. [ 2 ] Twitter, hypertext transfer protocol: //www.twitter.com [ 3 ] Buddycloud, hypertext transfer protocol: //buddycloud.com [ 4 ] Google latitude, hypertext transfer protocol: //www.google.com/imtl/enus/latitude/intro.html [ 5 ] Foursquare, hypertext transfer protocol: //www.foursquare.com [ 6 ] R. B. Jennings, E. M. Nahum, D. P. Olshefski, D. Saha, Z.-Y. Shae, and C. Waters, †A survey of cyberspace blink of an eye messaging and confab protocol, † IEEE Network, 2006. . [ 7 ] W.-E. Chen, Y.-B. Lin and R.-H. Liou, †A weakly consistent strategy for ims presence service, †IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communicationss, 2009. [ 8 ] I. Stoica, R. Morris, D. Karger, M. F. Kaashoek, and H. Balakrishnan, †Chord: A scalable peer-to-peer search service for cyberspace, †IEEE/ACM Tran. on Networking, 2003. [ 9 ] Chi-Jen Wu, Jan-Ming Ho â€Å"A Scalable Server Architecture for Mobile Presence Services in Social Network Applications, † IEEE minutess on nomadic computer science, 2013

Identify and Evaluate Marketing Opportunities

STUDENT ASSESSMENT GUIDE Unit of competency name| Identify and evaluate marketing opportunities| Unit of competency number| BSBMKG501B| Unit Purpose On successful completion of this unit you should be able to actively seek out and assess marketing opportunities in terms of viability and suitability to the organisation. You should also be able to turn the assessed marketing opportunities into reality – by scoping the implementation process and getting buy in from management and other key stakeholders for your opportunity. Specifically, you will be able to:Identify marketing opportunities Investigate marketing opportunities Evaluate required changes to current operations Reporting of assessment outcomes Your result will be recorded and reported to you as Distinction or Credit or Competent or Not yet Competent. If you are doing this unit in a course which is graded (Pass, Credit or Distinction) and this is one of the units which contribute to the course grade, your result in this unit will be assigned a nominal mark which will be used to calculate your course grade. Requirements to successfully complete this unit of competency IntroductionAssessment is a process that will require you to provide evidence that you have achieved the knowledge and skills required in this unit of competency. Successful completion of this unit is based on the assessment of your demonstrated competence in a workplace or simulated workplace environment. How do you complete this unit? You can complete this unit by demonstrating competence. To do this you must provide evidence that you can: Prepare a written report which identifies, evaluates and ranks a number of Marketing Opportunities Prepare an opportunity scope document that clearly describes the proposed execution of the marketing opportunitySynthesise the scope, viability, risks and forecast outcomes of the proposed marketing opportunity into a persuasive presentation to gain â€Å"buy-in† for the marketing opportunity What evidence will you be asked to supply? You may be requested to: 1. Identify and Evaluate Marketing Opportunities and submit a Written Report Identify and evaluate marketing opportunities. Conduct a SWOT analysis and identify four (4) marketing opportunities. Evaluate each of the four identified opportunities using a range of metrics – for example financial measures; marketing measures; customer impact methods – and competitor response analysis.Rank the marketing opportunities and identify the key opportunity. (This marketing opportunity will be explored further in the next task) 2. Write a Scope Document and Plan the execution of a marketing opportunity This would include: establishing the marketing opportunity objective, analysing and assessing organizational preparedness; designing a marketing opportunity implementation schedule; establishing a financial analysis, projections and forecasted results for the marketing opportunity; designing suitable marketing contr ols; establish a clear understanding to the key isks involved in the marketing opportunity and the strategies for managing these risks 3. Provide a persuasive Marketing Opportunity Presentation Present your marketing opportunity. This would include synthesizing your marketing opportunity framework into communicable pieces, where you would impart objectives and expected outcomes; define the risks; clarify changes that will need to be made and communicate the viability of making changes to current operations. Your peers should act as â€Å"managers and key stakeholders† providing feedback on the presentation of your marketing opportunity.Your teacher will advise you of the specific assessment requirements for this unit. This is a graded unit. To receive a PASS grade you must: Identify several marketing opportunities using a SWOT analysis Analyse and then evaluate marketing opportunities using one marketing and one financial measure Prioritise marketing opportunities – ra nk marketing opportunities and identify key opportunities. Establish a clear understanding of the key risks involved in the marketing opportunity and the strategies for managing these risks.Scope and plan the execution of one marketing opportunity Prepare a good quality written report and scope document Present your marketing opportunity to your peers To receive a CREDIT grade you must: Meet all the criteria of a pass grade Identify marketing opportunities using a greater number of sources and areas of growth eg international growth Apply entrepreneurial and creative thinking frameworks to the identification of opportunities Use a more extensive number of evaluation methods – including finance, marketing, customer and risk method.Demonstrate advanced skills in prioritising the various opportunities. Demonstrate a clear understanding of the concept of risk and how it applies to the evaluation of opportunity Prepare a professional quality written report and scope document Provi de a professional quality presentation which demonstrates high level presentation techniques and is accompanied by visual/audio aids. Address audience questions and garner feedback from peers in regard to the presentation of the opportunity To receive a DISTINCTION grade you must: Meet all the criteria of a credit gradeDemonstrate an advanced ability to plan, organise and control market opportunity analysis, evaluation and scoping Produce clearly superior identification and evaluation of opportunities Draw on an immense number of sources and areas of growth to support market opportunity identification Clearly show an application of and understanding of entrepreneurial and creative thinking frameworks and how they should be applied to the identification of marketing opportunities Evaluate every opportunity using a range of methods – finance, marketing, customer and risk methods.Present reports of desk-top publishing quality with complete audio/visual support for presentation. Respond to peer feedback in a professional and detailed manner What you will need Your teacher will advise you of any resources, including text books, which you will require for this unit. More about assessment For information about assessment in TAFE please see â€Å"Every Student's Guide to Assessment in TAFE NSW† which is available on the TAFE internet site at: http://www. tafensw. edu. au/courses/about/assessment_guide. htm Additional details for local assessment arrangements

Psychology and Association Test Essay

Experimental psychology is an area of psychology that utilizes scientific methods to research the mind and behavior. While students are often required to take experimental psychology courses during undergraduate and graduate school, you should really think of this subject as a methodology rather than a singular area within psychology. Many of these techniques are also used by other subfields of psychology to conduct research on everything from childhood development to social issues. Experimental psychologists work in a wide variety of settings including colleges, universities, research centers, government and private businesses. Some of these professionals may focus on teaching experimental to students, while others conduct research on cognitive processes, animal behavior, neuroscience, personality and many other subject areas. Those who work in academic settings often teach psychology courses in addition to performing research and publishing their findings in professional journals. Other experimental psychologists work with businesses to discover ways to make employees more productive or to create a safer workplace, a specialty area known as human factors psychology. Do you enjoy researching human behavior? If you have a passion for solving problems or exploring theoretical questions, you might also have a strong interest in a career as an experimental psychologist. Experimental psychologists study a huge range of topics within psychology, including both human and animal behavior. If you’ve ever wanted to learn more about what experimental psychologists do, this career profile can answers some of your basic questions and help you decide if you want to explore this specialty area in greater depth. An experimental psychologist is a type of psychologist who uses scientific methods to collect data and perform research. Experimental psychologists explore an immense range of psychological phenomena, ranging from learning to personality to cognitive processes. The exact type of research an experimental psychologist performs may depend on a number of factors including his or her educational background, interests and area of employment. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics:â€Å"Experimental or research psychologists work in university and private research centers and in business, nonprofit, and governmental organizations. They study the behavior of both human beings and animals, such as rats, monkeys, and pigeons. Prominent areas of study in experimental research include motivation, thought, attention, learning and memory, sensory and perceptual processes, effects of substance abuse, and genetic and neurological factors affecting behavior. † Experimental psychologists work in a wide variety of settings including colleges, universities, research centers, government and private businesses. Some of these professionals may focus on teaching experimental methods to students, while others conduct research on cognitive processes, animal behavior, neuroscience, personality and many other subject areas. Those who work in academic settings often teach psychology courses in addition to performing research and publishing their findings in professional journals. Other experimental psychologists may work with businesses to discover ways to make employees more productive or to create a safer workplace, a specialty area known as human factors psychology. Experimental psychology is an approach to psychology that treats it as one of the natural sciences, and therefore assumes that it is susceptible to the experimental method. Many experimental psychologists have gone further, and have assumed that all methods of investigation other than experimentation are suspect. In particular, experimental psychologists have been inclined to discount the case study and interview methods as they have been used in clinical and developmental psychology. Since it is a methodological rather than a substantive category, experimental psychology embraces a disparate collection of areas of study. It is usually taken to include the study of perception, cognitive psychology, comparative psychology, the experimental analysis of behavior, and some aspects of physiological psychology. Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) was a German physician, psychologist, physiologist and philosopher, known today as the â€Å"Father of Experimental Psychology† Some Famous Experimental Psychologists: Wilhelm Wundt later wrote the Principles of Physiological Psychology (1874), which helped establish experimental procedures in psychological research. After taking a position at the University of Liepzig, Wundt founded the first of only two experimental psychology labs in existence at that time. (Although a third lab already existed – William James established a lab at Harvard, which was focused on offering teaching demonstrations rather than experimentation. G. Stanley Hall founded the first American experimental psychology lab at John Hopkins University). Wundt was associated with the theoretical perspective known as structuralism, which involves describing the structures that compose the mind. He believed that psychology was the science of conscious experience and that trained observers could accurately describe thoughts, feelings, and emotions through a process known as introspection. Psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus was one of the first to scientifically study forgetting. In experiments where is used himself as the subject, Ebbinghaus tested his memory using three-letter nonsense syllables. He relied on such nonsense words because relying on previously known words would have made use of his existing knowledge and associations in his memory. In order to test for new information, Ebbinghaus tested his memory for periods of time ranging from 20 minutes to 31 days. He then published his findings in 1885 in Memory: A Contribution to Experimental Psychology. His results, plotted in what is known as the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve, revealed a relationship between forgetting and time. Initially, information is often lost very quickly after it is learned. Factors such as how the information was learned and how frequently it was rehearsed play a role in how quickly these memories are lost. The forgetting curve also showed that forgetting does not continue to decline until all of the information is lost. At a certain point, the amount of forgetting levels off. What exactly does this mean? It indicates that information stored in long-term memory is surprisingly stable. In the realm of mental phenomena, experiment and measurement have hitherto been chiefly limited in application to sense perception and to the time relations of mental processes. By means of the following investigations we have tried to go a step farther into the workings of the mind and to submit to an experimental and quantitative treatment the manifestations of memory. The term, memory, is to be taken here in its broadest sense, including Learning, Retention, Association and Reproduction. The principal objections which, as a matter of course, rise against the possibility of such a treatment are discussed in detail in the text and in part have been made objects of investigations. I may therefore ask those who are not already convinced a priori of the impossibility of such an attempt to postpone their decision about its practicability. Gustav Fechner did not call himself a psychologist, some important historians of psychology like Edwin G. Boring consider the experimental rising of this science in Fechner’s work (1979, p. 297). More specifically, it was Fechner’s famous intuition of October 22, 1850 that, according to Boring (quoted by Saul Rosenzweig, 1987), gave opportunity to his work as a psychophysicist (Rosenzweig also remembers that this date that serves as reference to this event, is curiously close to Boring? birthday, October 23rd). In a more concise way, if we think Fechner’s psychophysics work as the junction of a philosophical doctrine (that correlates spirit and matter as aspects of the same being), an experimental methodology (correlating the variations of stimulus and sensations perceived) and an assemblage of mathematical laws (the famous Weber-Fechner law); in addition, the last two aspects are considered especially relevant to the rising of psychology. Nevertheless, to think that the rising of a science is restricted to the establishment of experimental procedure and to a mathematical formalization, is to forget a whole field of questioning in which the instruments created by Fechner could, in the middle of the 19thcentury, overcome some obstacles and answer some questions, notably the ones made by the critic philosophy of Immanuel Kant. Ernst Weber was a German physiologist and Psychologist. He was regarded as a predecessor of experimental psychology and one of the founders of Psychophysics, the branch of psychology that studies the relations between physical stimuli and mental states. He is known chiefly for his work on investigation of subjective sensory response (sensations) to the impact of external physical stimuli: weight, temperature, and pressure. Weber experimentally determined the accuracy of tactile sensations, namely, the distance between two points on the skin, in which a person can perceive two separate touches. He discovered the two-point threshold – the distance on the skin separating two pointed stimulators that is required to experience two rather than one point of stimulation.

Why read The Story of An Hour by Kate Chopin (1894) Essay

Why read The Story of An Hour by Kate Chopin (1894) - Essay Example Mallard, who having a weak heart, mourns the death of her husband, Kate Chopin introduces a passage, which abruptly pictures window’s feelings of relief and freedom and thus this tragic event becomes confusing. Finally, in the exact moment when Mrs. Mallard finds out her allegedly dead husband is alive, she dies of a heart attack. From the critical perspective, the first impression from the story is undoubtedly confusing, however, a more careful analysis reveals that there are many reasons why this literary piece would be important and even necessary to read. Unlike many literary works that are essential descriptive, Kate Chopin’s â€Å"The Story of an Hour† teaches a modern reader to understand historical and social context of the story. This most popular piece of Chopin’s short fiction was written and published in 1984, and the influence of this historical epoch on the story is evident. Chopin’s women are framed and determined by the historical traditions, morals and principles. Women’s lives are limited by kitchens, children, families and occasional genteel routs. â€Å"Story of an Hour† witnesses a woman dawning on the notion of freedom after she learns of her husband’s death. Mrs. Mallard is awe-struck at her own feelings, as she has too lived her life according to the rules of middle-class white womanhood, but she lets the feelings flow nevertheless, and she makes plans for her new life: â€Å"Free! Body and soul free!† (Chopin, par.14). Chopin leaves audience with perhaps her most telling dramatic irony: the gathered community, viewing Mrs. Mallard as the pinnacle of respectable true-womanhood, decides her cause-of-death: â€Å"joy that kills† (Chopin, par.20). As in most of Chopin’s literature, her women who rebel from marriage are not rebelling from their husbands personally; rather, and perhaps worse, according to true-woman ideology, they rebel from the depletion of personal power and selfhood that

Nursing Practice Guidelines and Theory Research Paper

Nursing Practice Guidelines and Theory - Research Paper Example Grand nursing theories possess the vast scope and propose broader concepts and suggestions. Such type of theories reveal and provide insights valuable for hospitals but are not intended for experimental testing. (Navahandi, 2006, 180) This minimises the chances of application of grand nursing theories for designing, demonstrating, and foreseeing nursing in some situations. Such type of theories are utilized for almost all levels of nursing. Middle-range nursing theories are not vast unlike grand nursing theories in scope and propose a valuable connection between nursing practice and grand nursing theories. Such theories present concepts and propositions at an inferior level of generalization and possess great scope for high trend of theory-based investigation and nursing practice strategies. (Warhurst, Grugulis and Keep, 2007) Nursing practice theories possess the narrowest scope and level of generalization and are designed to be utilized for only limited variety of nursing situations. Nursing practice theories offer frameworks for nursing intrusions, and foresee results and the effects of nursing practice. (Stelzer, 2008, 25) In the last 15 years, nursing in the United Kingdom have increased its reliance on skilled work groups or teams. Although the initial motivation for adoption of work groups and teams may be linked to well-publicised examples in other parts of the world, reports of many successful implementations in the United Kingdom have further spurred their adoption (Navahandi & Aranda, 2006, 160). The continuing importance in the practice environment was advanced by Jerry Junkins, CEO of Texas Instruments: "No matter what your business, these teams are the wave of the future" (Dumaine, 2008, p. 220).

In a number Of crimes (the) function (of criminal law) is simply to Essay

In a number Of crimes (the) function (of criminal law) is simply to enforce a moral principle and nothing else Lord Devlin (19 - Essay Example Over four thousand years ago, prior to Abrahamic times, there is documentary evidence that morals and laws were seen as the same thing and morals and laws were seen to have the backings of the gods (Bottero, 1992). This therefore implies that peoples in prehistoric times derived their moral, religious and ethical authority from the supernatural, in that the rules and systems of these communities were considered to be something that originated from the spirits that backed the society. In modern times, where most people are influenced by the central principles of Judaism, which is the Torah given to Moses, most people believe that the Law is something that was ‘given’ (Hart, 1994). This is because Exodus 19 indicates that God spoke directly to Moses and the Israelite nation at Mount Sinai and gave them the rules and commandments that find its way to Christian, Jewish and Islamic Laws which form the foundations of most legal systems around the world. This therefore indicate s that the evolution of legality is strongly connected to religion and legality. Criminal laws and codes are no exceptions because in most cases, actions are criminalized because they are morally wrong rather than just legally outlawed. Alter et al 2007 indicate that â€Å"criminal conviction consists of two pre-requisites, the actus reus (criminal act) and mens rea (criminal intent)†. In other words, for the law to criminalise an individual, the prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubts that the accused person had an intention to commit a criminal act and he actually committed the criminal act. However, what is a crime and what is not, is deeply connected to the moral structures of a given society. This paper examines the popular arguments that merge the concepts of legality to morality and also, contrary views that makes them distinct and unconnected disciplines. Origins of Legal Structures â€Å"Law arises as a social technique which co-actively imposes ways of solv ing conflicts, protecting fundamental values for a society’s co-existence.† (Marina, 2000). From prehistoric times, people have always seen the need to live together as social units. First of all, every family has a head which is often a father. As part of his duty, a father is supposed to protect the family and make sure everyone does what is expected of him or her in the family. In more complicated situations, where a number of families lived together in a given social setting, there was the need for all the members to have a leader and other social structures that ensured that people could interact with each other with little friction and disagreements. Leadership and social structures varied widely. Leaders were usually chosen based on the pressing needs at the time. A community could chose a leader based on military yardsticks whilst another could chose a leader based on intellectual or productivity qualities. As pointed out by Bottero (1992), most of these early s ocieties had religious beliefs and systems that linked them to the spiritual realms. Religious and spiritual establishments also had custodians who automatically joined the leadership of the community to regulate and maintain social structures with spiritual guidance and directions. Thus for leaders of a community to regulate the life of members of the community, there is the need for a body of

Resolving Performance Problems with the Network Essay

Resolving Performance Problems with the Network - Essay Example In addition, the paper will make necessary assumptions, draw the appropriate printer topology, and propose the best network connection in the company. With all honesty, most printers with low-performance rates print files slowly. Sometimes, windows may send requests to the wrong printer. Such issues commonly occur in companies that work in large stores such as XYZ Inc. Moreover, some manufacturers happen to supply very spotty and light printers with horizontal lines. Other printer devices may send false messages considering the level of ink in their cartridges. Most likely, XYZ Inc could not have provided an interface to enable customers print their files from their mobile devices to the company’s printers. Other assumptions may include expenses involved in printing files, lousy output files, production of paper jams, and the breakdown of multifunction printer (MFP). According to Hoffman (2013), there exist several ways of solving common printer problems. For instance, administrators should ensure proper connection of all printers to the servers. The administrators need to install the printer driver and software on the printer that a client needs to use. In the case of a low-ink warning, a technical representative should not rush to replace the cartridge because some printers send false signals. Instead, the person in control should continue running the printer until the output degrades. Besides, administrators should install Wi-Fi printers to enable by using third-party apps that provide a wide range of printing options. The topology of a printer network depends on the volume of data or allowable bandwidth transferred across a given network. On the other hand, the topology influences the speed and efficiency of data transfer across the network. XYZ Inc should implement the Bus Topology for its printer network. To illustrate, clients can send request messages to one terminal on the entire network. Therefore, none of the terminals gets affected should

Pacing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Pacing - Essay Example In addition, the paper will cover learning for difficult subjects in English language learners’ class. Pacing Introduction According to Alan Hofmeister and Margaret Libke, pacing entails both curriculum and lesson pacing. A pacing guide is a written schedule that contains the concepts, topics and skills that are related the curriculum to be covered within a specified period of time (Richards & Lockhart, 2006, p 126). Curriculum pacing is concerned with the rate at which progress is made in delivering the curriculum while lesson pacing is concerned with the rate at which a teacher conducts the individual lessons. From past research, it is evident that low-achieving students learn effectively when lessons are conducted at brisk pace since more content is covered in classroom (Hofmeister & Lubke, 1999, p 19). However, it is assumed that the lesson difficulty will permit the learners to attain a higher rate of success since highly difficult lessons or contents cannot well learned at instructional pace. Good pacing provides the students with the right rhythm of the lesson and creates a perception that the lesson is progressing at the right speed (Richards & Lockhart, 2006, p 127). Lesson pacing is essential in classroom learning. Lesson pacing acts an indicator that students use to gauge the speed and progress of learning in a particular lesson. Accordingly, pacing enables the instructors or teachers to align the method of teaching with the objectives of learning and level of difficulty of the lesson (Richards & Lockhart, 2006, p 131). Effective pacing enables the teacher to hold the attention of the students thus contributing to effective attainment of the learning objectives in a particular lesson. In this regard, students have prior perception of the amount of content that will be covered within a certain period thus enabling them to concentrate during the entire lesson period (Hofmeister & Lubke, 1999, p 27). Lesson pacing helps in advancing from one lear ning topic to the next during the lesson. In this regard, pacing ensures that teachers deliver knowledge in a coherent and sequential manner since no interruptions such as missing instructional materials occur. Lesson pacing arouses learning curiosity and controls students’ behavioral problems during the lesson. Lesson pacing facilitates contribution from the learners through asking for clarifications, quality questioning and coverage of sufficient content within the lesson period (Richards & Lockhart, 2006, p 132). Pacing for a class that includes English Language Learner (ELL) students and for a class that does not include ELL students will differ significantly. For ELL class, explanation of certain vocabularies and key terms is essential before teaching the students new concepts (Hofmeister & Lubke, 1999, p 52). For English Language Learners (ELL), the teacher must move at a slower pace while demonstrating the concepts through body language in order to maintain the attenti on of the learners. For ELL students, the teacher must present learning materials and instructions visually through issuing handouts and not relying entirely on oral instructions (Richards & Lockhart, 2006, p 139). The pacing must facilitate language mastery through clear outline of lesson objectives and definition of the language objectives. The lesson content must be aligned with English language proficiency and lesson activities must integrate lesson concepts with English language practice opportunities such as writing poems (Hofmeister & Lub

Other Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Other - Assignment Example While buying the television, the seller will have spent on something else thereby boosting the local economy. Therefore, in the perspective of the observer of these events, the ill behavior of the man’s son or breaking of the television set has stimulated the economy; however, according to Bastiat, the entire understanding exposes a fallacy. Looking at the concept brewed in this case, breaking of the television reduces the man’s disposable income that he may not be able to purchase; for instance, a new shirt or commit to other luxuries. Nonetheless, the breakage of the television is helpful to others; for example, the seller or the person repairing the television. It should be noted that despite the breakage of the television set being helpful to others; it robs industries and reduces the spending on other goods and or services. Replacing an item that was already bought is regarded as the maintenance cost as opposed to buying new items or items that the owner has never had (Rockwell and Ludwig Von Mises Institute, 2008). ... in Making Financial Decisions The most significant means in decision making including financial decision-making are the application logical and systematic decision-making processes. Application of application logical and systematic processes helps in time value analysis since they provide systematic and planned analysis. Therefore, it is vital that health care organizations to deploy organizational approach that incorporates application logical and systematic processes in making vital financial decision (Skousen, 2009). Applying this concept will ensure that they never miss profound factors in their decision-making. Six steps and practices can help the health care organizations to curb their challenges in financial decision-making. Creating a constructive environment for financial decision making A constructive environment for decision-making incorporates the establishment of objective of such decision making process. In other words, it is vital that the management of such health car e organization to define the parameters the health organization could achieve with their desired financial decision. Additionally, the management must thereafter agree on a working process to be deployed and this will call for the incorporation of the significant stakeholders in such decision-makings. Generating applicable and relevant alternatives This process shall provide the decision makers with more options to choose from towards comprehensive financial decisions. Generation of alternatives allows the management or the decision makers to have numerous ways of solving financial challenges. Therefore, unreasonable alternatives will only worsen the problem. Finally, generating alternatives will help organizations of ideas. Exploration of the alternatives This process ensures that only

McGregor's Theories and Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs in Relation to Essay

McGregor's Theories and Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs in Relation to Modern Marine Management Practices - Essay Example The role of managers can be interpreted as that of looking over or ensuring people work as expected. As a process, management aims at maintaining an environment where individuals can work together to meet the set targets (Koontz and Weihrich, 1990, p.4). A broader form of management gives different implications. One of these is that it assigns managers with the role of planning, organizing, staffing and leading. Secondly, management is not limited to specific groupings as it applies to any kind of organization. In addition to that, it applies to all managers regardless of the organizational level they are at. Also, the driving force behind every manager is to create surplus. Management also deals with productivity of an organization. Hence, emphasis is laid on effectiveness and efficiency.Also, the aim of organizational behavior is to help managers map out the organization’s future through a better understanding of human behavior (Hersey & Blanchard, 1996, p.80). Some of the k ey areas in management include problem solving, administration, human resource management and leadership of the organization. Organizations face challenges on a daily basis that affect its performance. Thus, it is the management’s responsibility to identify and analyze the problems then implement the necessary remedies. Administration, on the other hand, implies overseeing the implementation of the laid down procedures. Human resource management involves integration of human resource, analysis of workers and overseeing flow of ideas between an organization’s shareholders and its workers. Leadership looks into interpersonal relationship, personal integrity and management skills. Theories serve as perspectives which people use to get a better understanding of experiences that they face (Stoner et al. 1995, p. 31). These generalizations and principles give a framework that can be used to study a given area of knowledge. Several approaches have been given to management ana lysis. Thus, management theories have been formulated to explain and analyze the management process. Different conflicting views have been given and for this reason, some scholars refer to this situation as the ‘management theory jungle’ (Koontz, 1961: pp.174-188). Some of the theories that can be used to analyze management are McGregor theories and the Maslow hierarchy of needs. McGregor theories Douglas McGregor was an American social psychologist who came up with management ideas that he covered in his X-Y theory. This theory is commonly referred to in management and motivation. According to McGregor, there are two approaches to managing people (McGregor, 1985, p. 16). Many managers prefer to apply theory x which unfortunately gives poor results compared to theory y. a. Theory x Theory x is also known as the authoritarian management style. This management style is characterized by workers who dislike their work (Business Balls, 2012, p.1). These people have to be for ced to work with threats of punishment upon failure to meet organizational objectives. Also, such workers shy off from responsibility and prefer to be directed on what to do. Theory x managers are goal oriented and result driven. These managers are intolerant to epole that fail to meet deadlines. This leads them to act in aloofness and arrogance. These managers create a dictatorial environment where

Conceptual framework Essay Example for Free

Conceptual framework Essay The table1 below shows that the theories for the adoption and diffusion of an IT-based innovation. Scholar name: Theory name 1. Rogers (1983, 1995) Innovation diffusion theory 2. Moore and benbasat (1991) Perceived characteristics of innovation 3. Davis (1989) Technology acceptance model 4. K won and Zmud (1987) Diffusion/ implementation model 5. Fishbein and Ajzen’s (1975) Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) Table1 2, a list of innovation adoption theories. Davis developed the technology acceptance model in 1989. It aims to explain the determinants of computer acceptance in general the capability of the user’s behavior across a broad range of end-user computing technologies and user populations, while being parsimonious and theoretically justified (Davis 1989). The theory includes several theoretical backgrounds like adoption of innovations, the cost-benefit paradigm, expectancy theory, and self-efficacy theory. At the core of the theory is the model proposed by Davis, which focuses on the perceived usefulness of technology and perceived ease of use, which plays a significant influence in adopting innovation. Figure 1. Davis Technology Acceptance Model Davis’ TAM originated from the Fishbein and Ajzen’s Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) model (Davis, 1989). The TRA model aims â€Å"to explain a broader range of behaviors based on situation specific combinations of personal beliefs and attitudes, and the effects of beliefs of others close to the individual† (Szajna, 1996). The discussion and limitation of the theories A limitation has been found for using those theories is that â€Å"according to the research, there are only the Innovation diffusion theory (Roger, 1995) and Diffusion/ implementation model (K won and Zmud, 1987) predict the both of an individual’s adoption behavior and an organization’s adoption behavior. † (Anand Jeyaraj, Joseph W Rottam, Mary C Lacity). The others theories predict only an individual’s adoption behavior. In another words, the TAM and TRA only exam the innovation adoption from the individual blogger perspective. However, to eliminate the limitation, the author will choose using with the DOI theory together in order to deeply analyze the both innovation adoption by individual bloggers and organizations. Diffusion and Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation Theory 1995 Diffusion is the process in which and innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system. It is a special type of communication, in that the messages are concerned with new ideas (Rogers 1995, 5). In his works, Rogers discusses diffusion as the transfer of innovations through different media in a specific time and into different members of the social system. He also defines communication, an important and critical part of the diffusion of innovations. He defines communication in the diffusion of innovations as a process in which participants create and share information with one another in order to reach a mutual understanding. This definition implies that communication is a process of convergence (or divergence) as two or more individuals exchange information in order to move toward each other (or apart) in meanings that they give to certain events (Rogers 1995, 6). Communication is a very important factor in the diffusion of innovations, it is a medium which must be perceived as a two way process rather as a one-way linear act, since in the diffusion of innovations, those who are yet to accept the innovations must be well adept and informed about the innovation. Blogging is a form of innovation which involves the interaction of a whole social system in the dynamic cyberspace. Corporate blog is seen as a communication method which involves the interaction of two or more individuals or even a whole social system. Diffusion is a special type of communication in which the messages are about a new idea. This newness of the idea in the message content gives diffusion its special character (Rogers 1995, 6). From these statements come new concepts such as newness, uncertainty, and information in the context of diffusion. While uncertainty is the degree to which a number of alternatives are perceived with respect to the occurrence of an event and the relative probability of alternatives. Uncertainty implies a lack of predictability, of structure, and of information. Rogers (1995) cites Rogers and Kincaid (1981) in the discussion of Information in the context of diffusion. Wherein, Information is a difference in matter-energy that affects uncertainty in a situation where a choice exists among a set of alternatives. Advances in technology, embodies information and reduces uncertainty about cause-effect relationships in problem solving. Technology is information put into use in order to carry out some task (Rogers et. al. 1999, 689) As technological advances are the major factors diffused, studies have also been conducted in relation to technological transfers which is much related to the diffusion of innovations. Technology transfer is the application of information into use (Rogers 1995). As defined, technological transfer is the application of theoretical innovations into applied inputs and outputs which may be used for both commercialized and not commercialized produce or services, wherein consumers or corporations benefit. The information that is transferred results from research that is conducted, perhaps in order for it to be applied to the development and commercialization of new or improved products or services that are sold in the marketplace by private companies (Matkin 1990). The process of technological transfer involves an interaction between the corporation and the corresponding stakeholders which benefit or which are affected by the corporation. Thus the suggestions in Rogers’ theory that there must be clear coordination through communication should be applied as reinforced by Williams and Gibson. The technology transfer process usually involves communication between (1) a source of technology that possesses specialized technical skills, and (2) receptors who do not possess these specialized skills and who cannot create the technology themselves (Williams Gibson 1990). Which is basically corresponding to the logical flow that technology is basically transferred to those who are not well adept to the advanced technology. A technology is a design for instrumental action that reduces the uncertainty in the cause-effect relationships involve in achieving a desired outcome (Rogers 1995, 13). Technology often has two aspects, one is the hardware aspect and the second is the software aspect. The hardware aspect consists of a tool that embodies the technology as a material or physical object (Rogers 1995, 13). The hardware aspect often comes as the solid part of the technology, as in the case of the computer, the hardware aspect is the keyboard, the monitor, the mouse the central processing unit, semiconductors etc. The software aspect consists of the information base for the tool (Rogers 1995, 6). The software aspect is then composed of the tools which enable the hardware to pursue its functions. As in the case of the computer, the software aspect is the codes, programs, commands, instructions, manuals, etc. Contrary to the common perception that the hardware is mostly is technology since it is normal for humans to think only of things which they can see and hold – yet technology may be purely the software aspect or may entirely be composed only of information which is new and considerably helpful than the current design and functions of normal practices. Examples of these technologies which may be composed of pure information are political ideologies such as Marxism and Maoism; and or religious beliefs and ideas such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, etc. Corporate blog may be attributed to the software part, as there is no solid hardware present, but the computers and other equipments. It is an easy way to make organizations adopt to innovations, such technology existed for quite sometime yet there are yet a few corporations who did not join the trend of corporate blogging. Everett Rogers conceptualized the Diffusion of innovation theory in 1995. In this theory, Rogers (1995) points out that the acceptance of an innovation depends upon certain qualities as perceived by the audience. These qualities are the relative advantage of the innovation, its compatibility with existing values and practices, its simplicity and ease of use, its trialability, and its observable results. Relative advantage is the degree an innovation is perceived as a better idea than its preceding innovations. This quality is measured in economic terms, social prestige, convenience and satisfaction (Robinson, no date). Robinson further stresses that â€Å"the greater the perceived relative advantage of an innovation, the more rapid its rate of adoption is likely to be†. Compatibility with existing values and practices is concerned with the consistency of the innovation to the existing values, past experiences, and needs of potential adopters. If an idea is perceived to be incompatible with existing values and practices of a social system, it is less likely to be adopted. Simplicity and ease of use is the adopter’s perception on the difficulty of the innovation to understand and use. The simpler the innovation, the more rapid its rate of adoption will be. Trialability is the degree an innovation may be experimented with on a limited basis (Robinson, no date). Trialability of an innovation reduces the potential adopter’s uncertainties about the innovation. Observable result is the degree to which an adopter sees the results of an innovation. The more visible the result is, the more likely individuals will adopt it. These are the factors that must be considered in order to create a successful innovation. In summary, innovations simply with more relative advantages, greater compatibility, trialability, observability, and less complexity will gain a higher rate of adoption. There are four main elements in the Diffusion of Innovations as identified by Rogers (1995), these are (1) Innovation, (2), Channels, (3) Time, and (4) social system. As defined earlier, Rogers (1995, 11) defines diffusion as the process by which (1) and innovation (2) is communicated through certain channels (3) over time (4) among the members of the social system. Innovations. An innovation is an idea, practice, or object that is perceived as new by and individual or other unit of adoption. I matters little, so far as human behavior is concerned, whether or not an idea is â€Å"objectively† new as measured by the lapse of time since its first use or discovery (Rogers 1995, 12). As Rogers (1995, 12) stresses, it should be assumed that the diffusion and adoption of all innovations are necessarily desirable. The attributes of innovations are namely, (1) Relative advantage, (2) Compatibility, (3) Complexity, (4) Trialability, and (5) Observability. Rogers (1997, 2) discussed each of the five attributes; Relative advantage is the degree to which innovation is perceived as better than the idea it supercedes. Individuals evaluate new ideas in relationship to the ideas with which they are familiar; compatibility as the degree to which an innovation is perceived as similar to the individual’s past experiences, values and beliefs; Complexity as the degree to which an innovation is perceived as difficult to understand and use; Trialability as the degree to which an innovation is perceived as divisible by the individual for purposes of gaining personal experience with it; and observability as the degree to which an innovation is perceived as highly visible to others.

Health Care Financing & Information Systems Essay Example for Free

Health Care Financing Information Systems Essay Assignment 1: Decision-Making Do you believe your design of the detailed organization chart indicates centralized or decentralized lines of authority for decision-making? Can you explain your approach in one or two sentences? Yes, I do believe that this Hospital has centralized lines of authority for decision-making. Since financing and budgeting are always a consistent issue in a hospital, a need for formal or a rational organizational model of hierarchy is necessary to achieve budget goals. References Baker, J. J. Baker, R. W. (2011). Health Care Finance, Basic Tools for Nonfinancial Managers (3rd ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones Bartlett Publishers.

Analysis of the community psychology field

Analysis of the community psychology field The Swampscott conference in 1965 highlighted a growing need for psychologists to be political activists and agents of social change this conference is considered the birthplace of community psychology (Barry, 2008). The ultimate aim of community psychology is to enhance the quality of life through collaborative research and action. Community psychology consists of three dominant perspectives namely, the ecological perspective, the social constructionist perspective and the critical perspective. Community psychologists use these perspectives to structure research and formulate interventions. Community psychology focuses much attention on health and creating interventions to alleviate health concerns. Health, is not just physical well being, but is a state of complete physical and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity (Petee Asch, 1949) As the discussions progresses, the three perspectives will be explored in detail, the case study Deadly Cells: The struggle of HIV positive prisoners will then be utilized to contextualise the three perspectives in formulating HIV/AIDS health interventions within prisons. Before we dive into the complexities that underlie these interventions it is important to have an accurate understanding of the three perspectives that are considered to be the foundation of community psychology interventions. Urie Bronfrenbrenner was the first to propose the ecological model based on a nested level of analysis. Bronfrenbrenner asserted that the individual does not exist as a static entity but is at the core of various levels of analysis that are all in constant interaction with each other thus an individuals behaviour does not exist in a vacuum and is influenced by the environment. The levels of influence include: the microsystem (refers to interpersonal relations), the mesosystem (refers to interaction among the systems that the individual is involved in), the exosystem (this involves the larger social system) and the macrosystem (refers to cultural and religious beliefs). James Kelly evolved Bronfenbrenners theory by shifting the focus from the individual and the levels of analysis to develop an understanding of how human communities function (Kelly, 1966, p. 537). Kelly highlighted four important principles that govern the behavior of individuals in different contexts. The four princi ples are as follows: adaptation (individuals need to adapt to the demands of change); succession (acknowledges the history (values, culture etc.) of a context history helps understand the present); cycling of resources (this is the identification and utilization of the resources available within a context the central aim being, to focus on the strengths of the particular context and its constituents) and interdependence (change is directly proportional to the other systems, thus change in one part of the system may cause negative or positive effects in other parts of the system). The ecological perspective helps stress that systems are not static entities, thus effective interventions can only be achieved by adopting a holistic stance. Social constructionism are sociological theories of knowledge that consider how social phenomena or objects of consciousness develop in social contexts (Daniel, 1998, p. 126).Therefore, our world has been constructed, through social interactions within our environment Social constructionism has many underlying principles that help accurately understand this theoretical paradigm. Social constructionism is anti-naturalism, which according to Bruner states that: It is culture not biology that shapes the human mind that gives meaning to action by situating its underlying intentional states in an interpretive system (Gergen, 1999, p. 27).This point illustrates that there is a danger involved if we treat individuals and societies as mere objects, to probe and study (as in biology), agency and interaction need to be considered. Secondly, is the use of language. Language is not just a means of communication, but a complex tool of symbolic representation that we utilize to construct our social reality, to define roles, formulate traditions and develop unique systems of representation. Closely tied to language is the third principle of meaning. Food is food because we have socially constructed it as an edible substance within our culture we gave it meaning (e.g.: the stomach of the sheep is a delicacy in Indian culture, however in Western culture it may be incomprehensible to eat). Fourth is power, power is closely tied to the notion of discourse (Refers to how people operationalize language within a culture (Freedman Combs, 1996).The various discourses of a particular culture dominate the culture, and knowledge of such discourses create a sense of power. Power and discourse is utilized to normalize individuals within a culture. Each and every culture contains a grand narrative which can be defined as the dominant, overarching ideology that exists within a culture. Grand narratives are sustained and constructed through the use of guiding metaphors, which refers to the selective use of language to actualize our realities. The fifth principle is that there is no si ngle truth. This can be illustrated by the speech entitled The Danger of a single story, delivered by famous Nigerian author Chimamande Adichie. In her speech Adichie speaks of her childhood and the books that she read which were chiefly British and American. These books influenced her overall view of the world to such an extent that when she began writing (at 7 years old), all her characters were predominantly white and lived in their white world. It is important to note that she developed a single story of the world devoid of her African heritage. Her unilateral views were confirmed when she entered university and her American roommate was awestruck, that she, a Nigerian girl could speak fluent English. As her roommates view of Africa was nothing but poverty and war a single story of Africa. Coupled with the single story notion is the issue of power. Power is the ability not just to tell a story of another person, but to make it the definitive story of that person (Adichie, 2002) . It is evident that a single story robs all the colour of any painting. The consequence of a single story is it robs people of dignity and emphasizes how we are different than how we are similar (Adichie, 2002). The above illustration illuminates the notion that there are multiple sides to any story ,however what may be the most important side is the underlying dynamics that are absent from sight. From the above discussion on social constructionism it is clear that this perspective by no means objectifies reality, but subjectifies experiences, interactions and social construction within a particular context. Critical psychology can be understood as a metadiscipline that urges the discipline of psychology to critically evaluate its moral and political implications (Painter Terre Blanche, 2006, p. 215) Critical psychology places importance on challenging the dominant values of mainstream psychology. Critical psychology points out that the roles of professionals (e.g. politicians, psychologists etc.) are not value free roles and the values of professionals need consideration. Therefore, it is evident that critical psychology poses a much needed criticism of mainstream psychology. Critical psychology and mainstream psychology differ in the following aspects: Traditional psychology attributes problems to particular individuals and their contribution to the emergence of a problem ,conversely critical psychology identifies a problem within a particular system and the existing power differentials, secondly, mainstream psychology emphasizes individualism and capitalist values, critical psycholog y challenges this view, asserting that this view stunts the search for self-actualization and the final aspect is power. Power according to mainstream psychology is attained through professional training and knowledge, however critical psychology asserts that power should be shared and not exist within individuals. Critical psychology highlights that power can either empower or marginalize individuals and all interventions do not benefit all individuals. Thus from the above discussion it is clear that critical psychology is a coupling of the previous two perspectives with ultimate goal of freedom and empowerment. Now that a clear understanding of the three perspectives community psychologists utilize in formulating interventions has been developed, it will be used to contextualise the case study : Deadly Cells: The struggle of HIV positive prisoners The article Deadly cells, illustrate the plight of HIV positive prisoners in a South African prison (Westville). The article states that infected inmates were denied access to anti-retroviral treatment (ARVs) robbed of their human right of access to appropriate healthcare. The Department of Correction when notified of the issue responded by stating that prisoners need their identification documents (which they did not have) and that there was limited access to hospitals that would treat the prisoners. After much contention the matter reached the courts. Due to the harsh conditions (rape, unprotected sex, overcrowding, gang life etc.) in prisons, infection of the disease was exacerbated. In 2006, after much deliberation the government agreed to provide ARV treatment, however this conclusion does nothing to curb the problem of the rapid increase of HIV/AIDS victims in prisons. The above case study will now be contextualised with the use of the three perspectives discussed earlier and interventions will be suggested to alleviate the problem. A community psychologist working from an ecological perspective will define the prisoners perception of their environment, analyse the characteristics of the environment and then adopt a transactional analysis of how the perceptions and external characteristics interact to produce the problem a holistic systemic view. The researcher will spend time at the prison in a participatory manner, engaging collaboratively with the prisoners to understand their problem on various levels. The ecological intervention will promote participation and instil the belief that the affected can indeed effect change. An example of an appropriate ecological intervention to alleviate the problem of HIV/AIDS at the Westville prison includes the following: first and foremost the prisoners need to be made aware of their rights and the laws that protect their health; this can be done by running education programs. The prison staff (officers, wardens etc.) need to play a proactive role in the prevention of rap e, discrimination and the alleviation of gang fights in the prisons, this can be achieved through training programs for the staff. The issue of overcrowding within the prison needs to be referred to the authorities or community based organisations (CBOs) in order to create awareness and mass media attention. The prison authorities need to provide lubricants and condoms to prisoners teaching them to be proactive. Pressure should be put on the Department of Health for ARVs and in-house HIV/AIDS care centres by creating media attention. Lastly, an external officer needs to monitor that the interventions are in place (by weekly visits). The above suggestions emphasise that the problem is not just a health issue and in order to alleviate the problem a holistic, nested stance needs to be adopted. The social constructionist perspective differs from the ecological model as the values of the participants are central to the formation of an intervention. A researcher working from the social constructionist perspective will work closely with prisoners, in order to understand their subjective experiences, through qualitative methodologies. The researcher will search to uncover the prisoners discourses, utilisation of language and their grand narratives in relation to the causation and treatment of HIV/AIDS. Once a contextually specific view has been developed the researcher will begin to build a context specific intervention. An example of an intervention that may alleviate the problem at the Westville prison includes the following: A researcher may begin by conducting focus group interviews with the prisoners to gain an empathic understanding of the plight of the prisoners. Once a clear understanding of the problem (rape, overcrowding and the lack of proper healthcare) has been dev eloped, the researcher will then collaboratively formulate possible solutions to the problem with the prisoners. Possible solutions may include: a prisoner awareness programme carried out by the prisoners, practicing safe sex, alleviating gang violence and rape through creating awareness and reporting incidences and by involving CBOs- thus taking responsibility for their own health. The lack of medical treatment can be alleviated by forming a campaign that emphasises the disabled healthcare rights of the prisoners, the ultimate aim being to gain media attention, ultimately government fulfilment of the laws that protect prisoners. The social constructionist view places importance on the value structure within a context, once these structures have been unwrapped, they can solve the problem by building new structures that are proactive thus the answer may lie within discourses or narratives. The critical perspective differs as it is an integration of the above two paradigms with the ultimate goal of freedom and empowerment. Critical psychology like social constructionism values the subjective experiences of the prisoners and therefore, can be considered to be value-driven. A key goal of critical psychology is to transform the problem and therefore, has political connotations. The aim of the researcher begins with a transformative stance, understanding the plight of the prisoners and to empower and liberate them to action, by enlightening them on the possible solutions. An example of an intervention to alleviate the problem at the Westville prison includes: Participation Action Research (PAR) is a collaborative approach, with research aimed at social change, researcher and participants are partners and communication is central to successful intervention (McTaggart, 1997). PAR is an activist approach. The prisoners could form a mass demonstration (protest) and form allianc es with CBOs that can create awareness outside the prisons, thus jointly accessing media attention. Once attention is attained the CBOS can appeal to the relevant legal authorities and international organisations such as the United Nations and the World Health Organisation ultimately this would push the government to act. Therefore, it can be seen that the critical approach emphasises transformation and activism. From the above discussion it can be deduced that community psychology is a multidimensional field that employs the use of various perspectives namely, ecological (a holistic systemic view), social (value-driven, constructed reality) and the critical perspective (a critical, activist view). Each perspective sheds new theoretical light on the plight of the Westville prisoners all emphasising the need for stronger health systems, a need for coordination and cooperation between authorities, CBOs, prisoners and prison staff and a limited exercising of rights related to healthcare and laws protecting the well-being of prisoners. Therefore it can be concluded that community psychology with the utilization of the three perspectives can help the marginalized prisoners break free from the stigma that prisoners have dissolved their rights to healthcare.

Essay --

Whether it is a manmade or natural disaster, it definitely includes risk, vulnerability, and hazards. The characteristics of a disaster or unpredictability, unfamiliarity, speed, urgency, uncertainty and the threats writes wicked story of destruction on the earth. Disaster management and defense system: Dealing with and avoiding the risks resulted through a disaster is known as disaster management. This operation includes preparation ahead of a mishap and disaster response. It is a long-term process which continues as an effort, sometimes a group effort, to runback the normal life process by avoiding or eliminating the scratches of the disaster. Individuals, communities or the social groups help themselves and others in disaster management through supporting and reconstructing the society. Natural disasters have no specific schedule or targeted place to happen as it happen anywhere, anytime. Yes, every local and central government has their own disaster management wings but they can’t guarantee you complete protection on-spot or on-time. Just ponder; you are enjoying a family vacation out station and sudden you get an alert of storm! In this situation, you are the only person to safeguard you and your family rather than a trained disaster management volunteer. So, all of us need to be prepared to prevent a harassing situation which is not mentioned in your day-planner. Disaster management and safety tips: The following safety tips for some critical natural disasters will help you a lot in future. Disaster management strategies for every type of disaster include a three stage planning and execution tactic i.e. before– during – after the disaster. Safety Tips for Earthquakes: Before earthquake: A safety plan plays a vital role i... ...dates from TV and radio. If you experience smooth jerks or found a crack is increasing in your wall, immediately leave that place to a safer place where you will be safe. Don’t stand under any buildings or river-side or on the border of a heap. After landslide: Don’t go near or into the slide areas just after the landslide as there should be risk of further slides. Help and organize relief operations for the trapped people. Check the condition of the home before living in it. For long-term solution, you can contact the geological department or local administration for developing an evacuation strategy. To protect the greenery, health and wealth, a strong action plan against manmade disasters and complete knowledge regarding natural disasters is required. Education awareness in Odisha is a helpful stuff to spread the voice of safe environment among the common people.

Pedogenesis in Western Washington and Northern Alaska: A Comparison of

Pedogenesis in Western Washington and Northern Alaska: A Comparison of the Primary Factors Introduction: Pedology is partially based on the established principle that soil changes are directly correlated to specific biotic communities and regional climatic patterns. From this principle questions have arisen as to why the Arctic tundra that lies above the treeline in Alaska displays similar chemical characteristics to that of the well-developed Podzols and Spodosols found in the coniferous forests of Washington. The Podzols and Spodsols of these coniferous forests are defined by their cool and humid regional climates and by the acidic parent material from which they formed. Recent studies indicate that the E and Bs horizons that define the temperate forest soils are also found above the treeline in Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Siberia (Ugolini, Stoner, & Marret, 1987). What role does biota play in the current soil formation for each of the sites? Why do the similarities exist between the sites despite differences in climate and vegetation? What other factors consistently influence the soil properties? The purpose of my paper is to address the question of which soil forming factors have the greatest effect on the similar and distinct characteristics of the two geographic locations. Podzolization: Pedogenic Change in Alaska and Washington Chemical analyses of temperate forest soils in the Pacific Northwest have been collected to examine soil forming trends (Ugolini, Stoner, & Marret, 1987). Such data allows us to compare various ecosystems and their characteristic pedological processes. Ugolini et al 1987 show how the soil solution analysis allows us to see ". . . a simple two-compartment system" (p.91). The first ... ...d processes, principles, and knowledge necessary to further our understanding of modern pedogenesis as an important part of soil science. References Cited: Birkland, Peter, 1984, Soils and Geomorphology: New York, Oxford University Press, 372 p. Marret D.J., Stoner M.G., & F.C. Ugolini, August 1987, "Arctic Pedogenesis: 1. Evidence for Contemporary Podzolization." Soil Science, 144, p.90-100. Schlichte, A.K., & F.C. Ugolini, May 4, 1973, "The Effect of Holocene Environmental Changes on Selected Western Washington Soils," Soil Science, 116, p.218-227. Sletten, Ronald, & F.C. Ugolini, January 1991, "The Role of Proton Donors in Pedogenesis as Revealed by Soil Solution Studies." Soil Science,151, p.59-72. Stoner, M.G., & F.C. Ugolini, January 1968, "Arctic Pedogenesis: 2. Threshold-Controlled Subsurface Leaching Episodes." Soil Science, 145, p.46-50.

Effects of Underage Drinking on Society Essay -- Alcohol Regulation, Y

Underage Drinking Anyone who is below eighteen years of age is considered as underage and laws in many countries prohibit such a person from consuming alcohol. Alcohol happens to be the most commonly abused drug not only among the youth but also among adults. This paper explores underage drinking, its effects on the society and outlines what can be done to curb it. Young people are considered to constitute the largest number of alcohol consumers and they account for a large portion of alcohol sales. This is despite the strict drinking laws that govern many countries as regards alcohol purchase and consumption. Underage drinking, which has been on the increase, is allegedly the major cause of alcohol-related problems facing the modern society. The most severe effects of adolescent drinking include drunk driving that leads to accidents and even death, violence, poor performance in school, addiction, poor relationships and damage on adolescent brain development among others (Bonnie and O’Connell 58). The society is to a great extent affected by these effects through deaths and lost productivity among the youth. This has become a challenge to the society and government, which has been accused of doing nothing about this menace. Weak personal character, bad social states and poor cultural settings are some of the major factors that are belie ved to be behind underage drinking. Bad character among adolescents is a major factor behind underage drinking and it is caused by the personal beliefs and attitudes of the young adults towards alcohol, defiance, low commitment towards personal objectives and undue interpretation of freedom (Komro and Toomey 2). The lack of principles and autonomy, which help the youth to say no to illicit beh... ...wn to a personal decision on whether one should or should not consume it as others will still do even if all these interventions were to be put in place. The strategies above can therefore not guarantee an end to underage drinking but they can give significant and sustained reduction in adolescent drinking if efficiently implemented. Works Cited Bonnie, Richard J., Mary Ellen O’Connell, and National Research Council (U.S). Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility. Washington, DC: National Academic Press, 2004. Print. Ellul, Duncan Aaron Borg. Risk Perception, Awareness and Prevention Measures to Reduce Underage Drinking and the Illegal Purchase of Alcohol in Malta. Boca Raton, FL: Universal Publishers, 2005. Print. Komro, Kelli A., and Traci L. Toomey. â€Å"Strategies to Prevent Underage Drinking.† The News. 19 Jan. 2011: 1-29. Print.

Adoption of Ifrs

ADOPTION OF IFRS: IT`S BENEFITS AND IMPACTS ON FIRMS AND COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD The IASB was established in 2001 and since have assumed the responsibility of the standard setting from its predecessor body, the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) and began issuing International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). IFRS has recently been dominating the regulatory changes in accounting for listed companies around the world. Through the years, over 100 countries have adopted IFRS reporting, some of which include Australia, the European Union, India, Japan, South Africa, Russia and most recently Canada.In addition, the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are working towards the final element of a work plan to incorporate IFRS into the U. S. financial reporting jurisdiction. In November 2007, the SEC voted to allow foreign issuers that report in IFRS to file their financial statements with the SEC without reconciling to U. S. generally accepted accounting st andards (GAAP). Accounting standard setters anticipate that the use of IFRS will improve the comparability of financial statements, improve reporting transparency, and increase the quality of financial reporting which in turn will lead to greater investor confidence.From an economic perspective, some believe that it’s challenging to perceive that such expectations will be achieved as a result of converting to IFRS. However according to proponents of IFRS, publicly traded companies believe that applying these principles will allow for a single set of high quality accounting standards as this will contribute to better functioning of the capital markets (Quigley 2007).In the following paper I will discuss the reasons why firms around the globe have adopted IFRS in relation to the financial reporting and disclosure quality, comparability across firms and countries, and the costs and benefits associated with reporting improvements. Most countries are in favor of adopting IFRS, fro m the viewpoint that IFRS standards are more capital market oriented, which in turn provides higher quality information that will benefit constituencies of financial statement users as supposed to local GAAP (Daske and Gebhardt 2006).If this statement is true, one way to validate it is through recommendations by empirical studies that suggest firms engaging in IFRS implementations should see an increase in market liquidity followed by a decrease in the firm’s value of cost of capital. According to Leuz and Wysocki (2008), they have provided some evidence in relation to the effects of reporting quality on market liquidity. They indicate the issue regarding information asymmetry, where investors who possess less knowledge of a firm’s reporting structure or policies, are concerned about trading with the better informed investors.They indicate how these non-informed investors are to lower the price at which they are willing to buy, to protect themselves from losses incurre d from trading with better informed investors. Hence investors that possess less information about a stock are less likely to trade. These effects of adverse selection and information asymmetry reduce the liquidity of securities market. Therefore, IASB strongly encourages essential financial disclosure. This will alleviate the adverse selection problem and will result in increased market liquidity by leveling the playing field among all market participants.In addition, other studies have shown that improvements in financial reporting and disclosure can affect the cost of capital in a variety of ways. Some of which include, investors that require a higher return from less liquid securities and lower estimation risk as this makes it easier for the investor to estimate a firm’s future cash flow. This in turn, will improve risk sharing in the economy by making investors aware of certain securities or by making them more willing to hold them (Leuz and Verrecchia, 2004). Hence redu cing the cost of capital.As important as it can be for firms to disclose essential information to investors, other firms can also benefit from these disclosures for the purpose of decision making and will help reduce the agency problem existing between shareholders and management. For example, â€Å"disclosure on operating performance and governance arrangement provides useful benchmarks that help outside investors to evaluate other firms managerial efficiency or potential agency conflicts and, in doing so, lower the costs of monitoring† ( Leuz and Wysocki, 2008).In addition, the information environment has improved as firms switch over to IFRS, which has also contributed to the increase in higher quality financial reporting. According to Mary E. Barth (2006) firms that voluntarily adopted IFRS generally seek lower earning management, lower cost of capital, and more value relevant of earnings. All of which interpret evidence of higher accounting quality. Barth indicates that the accounting quality could be mproved by removing other accounting methods that are not reflective of a firm’s performance and which are used by managers to manage earnings. As part of his testing, he compared firm’s earnings management between those firms reporting under IFRS and firms reporting according to their local GAAP. As a result of his study, it was indicated that after firms had adopted IFRS, they had larger volatility swings in net income, increase ratio of variance in cash flows, higher correlation of accruals and cash flows, small positive net income, and increased occurrence of larger losses.Opponents argue that a single set of internationally accepted high quality financial reporting standards may not be appropriate for certain firms as they are exposed to different cultural, political and legal differences as this might continue to impose major obstacles in the progress towards the harmonization of standards. These differences however may not provide for any greater value relevance and reliability. For example a study conducted by Ball (2006) indicates that pension accounting may be subject to earnings management in countries that have less developed pension systems.Another empirical study indicates that managers can take advantage and use different assumptions to manipulate financial statements (Soderstorm and Jialin Sun, 2006). Proponents of IFRS argue that using common accounting standards across countries will make it more cost efficient for investors to identify earnings management. When accounting standards are uniformed and relevant disclosure is provided, investors are more likely to understand the different assumptions used by management to calculate such pension accounting, which will limit the chances of management to engage in earnings management.The second important factor as to why countries have chosen to adopt IFRS, is mainly because of its increase in accounting comparability across firms. The advantage of a gl obal movement towards IFRS reporting makes it easier for investors and stakeholders to compare different firms and the relevant information to help them assess the company objectives. Comparative reporting will enable users of financial statements in identifying which firms are more or less profitable.Firms that are exposed to high or low risk of return as a result, will reduce investors information asymmetries and lower estimation risk. Moreover, the improvement in comparability across firms allows for increase market liquidity and reduces firms cost of capital (Luez et al. 2008). Studies have suggested that prior to adopting IFRS, firm’s local GAAP standard which were tailored to the needs of analysts and investors would in theory reduce biased information and build investor confidence.A study conducted by Tan, Wang and Welter in 2009, indicated that once firms had adopted IFRS, their foreign analysts had increased significantly more for those who had the greatest level of GAAP differences. There have been a number of studies conducted to test whether IFRS adoption does in fact increase comparability. The outcome of these studies are mixed. Bielstein et al. (2007) concluded that IFRS adoption, results in greater foreign investment for countries that have strong reliability and comparability.Other empirical studies claim that cultural, political and business differences continue to impose significant obstacles in increasing the comparability of accounting information. Lang Maffet and Owens (2010) find that accounting comparability does not improve for IFRS adopters relative to a control group of non-adopters. The two conclude that there is little evidence that IFRS adoption increases comparability. Overall, from the research obtained, there is little empirical evidence proven on the effects of reporting comparability than reporting quality.The third important factor for countries adopting IFRS, are the costs and benefits associated in producing high qu ality accounting standards and the improvement in comparability across firms. As mentioned previously, the ultimate benefit a firm receives by adopting IFRS reporting is from the increase in market liquidity followed by a lower cost of capital. In order to achieve this high standard, there are costs that a firm is exposed to. Such incurred costs include transitional costs, ongoing costs of compliance to the firms, and enforcement costs relevant to government agencies (Standish, 2003).Standish summarizes his findings in relation to cost and benefits of firms moving to IFRS that will tend to see lower transaction costs when preparing financial reports. They will only be reporting against a single set of accounting standards instead of multiple sets. In addition, he makes note of a â€Å"positive network externality† that arises through the use of a single set of accounting standards by all constituencies. This will save market participants from requiring additional time and ene rgy of having to learn, apply and understand multiple sets of standards.Other benefits that result from the transition to IFRS will improve comparability between firm’s financial statement for investors and shareholders. Thereby, making investment decision’s easier. According to Leuz and Wysocki (2008), there are direct and indirect costs associated with improving reporting. The direct costs include preparation, validity and circulation of accounting reports. These costs can vary and increase significantly. In addition, firms will require assistance and hire consultants that have expertise in IFRS reporting.These specialists help train key personnel in the organizations so that they are able to produce financial statements that are in accordance to IFRS reporting. The costs tend to be more difficult for smaller companies to finance such activities for disclosures and reports, as their profitability margins are small. Disclosure costs have characteristics of indirect co sts. Whereby a firm can reduce its monopoly power by providing too much detail to the market, as sensitive profitability information is assimilated to its competitors.Other empirical studies have noted that with these costs and cost-benefit trade-offs that firms are undergoing, it may not be suitable for them to obtain high quality reporting. Rather, encourage firms to provide certain disclosures which the cost of disclosing such information does not exceed their benefit. Moreover, it is of importance that the standard setters recognize the net benefits obtained from the high quality reporting and comparability, as they differ across firm industries and countries (Leuz and Wysocki, 2008).It’s relatively evident why most companies would like to switch over to IFRS due to the number of benefits that are associated with the transition as described above. One would automatically presume that a single set of accounting standards that are used universally by most firms within diffe rent countries would deliver comparability, increase reporting transparency, allow for foreign investments, hence increasing market liquidity and low cost of capital. However, there is very little empirical evidence that claim these characteristics as being true after conversion.Having said that, Ball (2006) has noted that IASB has been successful in serving the public by developing comprehensive set of high quality standards that have convinced over 100 countries to adopt these principles for the purposes of financial reporting. There are some advantages of having a single set of accounting standards unified. As such, these standards contain characteristics of a â€Å"public good†, for example, the investor can use this information in an annual report without eliminating its usefulness to other investors. In other words, the marginal cost for another investor viewing these annual reports would be zero.A second advantage of unifying accounting standards and disclosure practic es is to reduce management from using their own judgement in financial reporting, by reducing the risk of altering the reports to mislead capital market participants. Moreover, these uniform standards provide protection for auditors against firms. These standards are to also be enforced by auditors, whereby the firm has very little opportunity to shirk, hence reducing information asymmetry and increasing investors and stakeholder’s confidence of the firm. Lastly, unifying these standards will increase the accounting comparability across firms.If each firm or country were to implement different local accounting standards, this can impose high costs for both the firm and its external users, such as investors as this will create negative externalities and will reduce domestic investments which can impact countries trade volume profitability, where the majority of countries main source of income is driven from. Opponents of IFRS adoption feel that a single set of accounting stand ards do not benefit all firms and countries. These differences in countries arise from cultural, economic, political and legal systems.For example, firms may have to respond to political pressures from the government due to balance sheet volatility, as a result of fair valuing. The IASB should review accounting standards as they are released to eliminate the possibility of political pressures on countries that are exposed to such tight regulation. One of the main reasons why countries and firms around the world adopt IFRS is due to the results achieved from reporting quality and disclosure practices. However, IFRS can occasionally produce ineffective reporting quality and disclosure.For instance, IFRS can lack in setting descriptive details in their guidelines that make it difficult for countries to follow. Some countries find their local GAAP easier to read and understand due to the level of detail and examples provided. These complexities in the rules creates havoc for firms that would like to report in IFRS, but find it challenging to exclusively follow these guidelines outlined by the IASB. As a result, this can lead to poor financial reporting quality. Other countries and firms conclude that fewer rules and guidelines will encourage management to produce effective accounting policies that will rompt them to make appropriate judgement calls. Information asymmetry and agency costs play a significant role in relation to the disclosure and financial reporting quality. The key motivating factor for any firm is, the more disclosure provided will create a positive signal to investors and hence, will reduce the information asymmetry and agency costs. Companies will see increases in investor confidence while earning high profitability levels. Moreover, firms adopting IFRS, chances are that they are subject to fewer opportunities to part take in earnings management or deceive investors.Studies have indicated that countries which have adopted IFRS do not all achieve the same degree of benefit. The study implies to those countries which have a weak structure in place for investor protection, will tend to see the most benefits from adopting of IFRS. In contrary, countries that have a strong structure in place for investor protection will see marginal benefits. The increase in benefits received by a country whether small or large will improve investor protection and provide for more comparable and comprehensive financial reporting.The cost and benefits of a firm converting to IFRS can be substantial depending on how one views it. The benefit driven through the implementation of IFRS will include lower cost of capital, increases firm value and creates a stable level of investors’ confidence. In addition, as discussed above, the benefits will also increase as a result of better financial reporting quality and cross country comparability for foreign investors, auditors and other constituencies. These benefits obtained through adoption of IFRS are not free. The cost of implementing such an accounting standard can cost firms millions.There are various types of costs that are incurred in the different processes a firm undergoes. The transition costs can be significant in relation to auditing fees. The cost of auditing work will increase, due to testing and validating accounting data as most of the assumptions used by firms are judgemental. Other costs involve training key personnel to apply applicable standards in practice. Companies tend to have shortages of staff that have ever been exposed to IFRS accounting, this is more apparent in Canada. As a result, these companies struggle as they need to learn and apply these new standards.Moreover, the cost related to the risk involved of manipulation of accounting standards, as these standards do not provide strict reporting rules for companies to follow, can impose a huge cost on the firm, if the auditor refuses to provide an unqualified opinion on the firm. Overall, the costs are generally higher during the first couple of phases through the transition. In the long run, costs tend to decline as employees are more aware of the standards and a basic foundation has been developed by IFRS consultants and auditors. At the present moment IFRS reporting is widely used by many countries across the globe.Based on the studies gathered above, countries and firms are optimistic about replacing their local GAAP to IFRS accounting standards. By moving towards a universal set of high quality accounting standards this will lead to improving the firm’s performance, by increasing shareholders wealth though investors’ confidence, lower cost of capital hence reducing information asymmetry. In addition, other benefits include comparability across all nations, this will help facilitate in better understanding by investors of accounting information released in public financials.Comparability will result in an increase of auditors understanding in the types of po licies and assumptions companies implement. This will help ensure that companies are not partaking in earnings management. Comparative accounting standards can be most beneficial to analysts. This will enable analysts to predict the firm’s future forecast of cash flows in comparison to the industry average. As mentioned above, the IFRS accounting standards are costly to implement. Studies have made reference to these transition costs as extremely pricy to develop, however, in the long run their costs tend to decline.This may in fact be true, however, for those companies that have incorporated IFRS standards, will continue to see new accounting pronouncements issued by the IASB, as they work to improve their guidelines. As a result, firms will continue to spend in areas of training and seeking professional advice on how these new standards will impact their firm. References 1. Bielstein , 2007. How the IFRS movement will affect financial reporting in the U. S. : Article: KPMG 2. Daske andGebhardt, 2006. Discussion of Daske and Gebhardt, Journal ofAccounting Finance and Business Studies. 3. Lang, Maffet and Owen, 2010. Earnings Movement and Accounting Comparability, the Journal of Accounting Research 4. Leuz and Verrecchia , 2004. Firms Capital Allocation Choices, Information Quality and the Cost of Capital 5. Luez and Wysocki, 2008. Economic Consequences of Financial Reporting and Disclosure Regulation, Journal of Accounting Research 6. Mary E. Barth, 2006. Accounting Quality : International Accounting Standards, The Journal of Accounting Research 7. Ray Ball, 2006.International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS): Pros and Cons for Investors, Journal of Accounting Research 8. Soderstorm and Jialin Sun, 2007. IFRS Adoption and Accounting Quality: A review, The Journal of Accounting Research 9. Standsih, 2003. Evaluating National Capacity for Direct Participation in International Accounting Harmonization, Journal of Accounting Research 10. Tang, Wang and Welkor, 2011. Analyst Following and Forecast Accuracy After Mandated IFRS Adoption. Journal of Accounting Research. 11. William R. Scott, Fifth edition , 2009. Financial Accounting Theory