International Accounting (Comparison) Research Paper

International Accounting (Comparison) - Research Paper Example The accounting standards form the principles for the preparation and presentation of financial statements created by the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC). The research paper highlights the major areas of similarities and differences between Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The objective of this research paper is to find out those particular differences that are believed to be mostly encountered during practice. The name itself suggests that the contents of the theory will describe certain principles that are needed to be followed in accounting but despite this GAAP acts as a very important facilitator for investors and companies. GAAP is basically a set of procedures and standards that companies follow in order to present their financial data. Companies follow those standards as these provide them a precise mode of representation of their financial figures which is good for the analysts as it becomes hard for the company to trick them by manipulating their figures. 1 IFRS has gained popularity in recent times and has been well accepted by a huge number of countries in the world. Previously, the multinational companies had to prepare separate financial statements for each country where they had their areas of operations but IFRS has made the task easier. In IFRS the guidelines and standards are set by International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) that companies and organizations can follow when compiling financial statements. It was previously called the International Accounting Standards (IAS). IFRS provides guidance to prepare financial statements.2 In order to enumerate the advantages of any accounting principle, it is important to analyze the components of it at the outset. The main components of GAAP are: Inventory costs, Debt, Stockholder’s equity, short term

Epistemology and Skepticism Essay Example for Free

Epistemology and Skepticism Essay * Epistemology and Skepticism: How does The Matrix illustrate the challenge of skepticism about the external world? Explain, discuss, and critically evaluate the hallucination argument for complete epistemological skepticism. Be sure your essay includes a discussion of either Hospers or Crumley IIs criticism of complete epistemological skepticism. Is complete epistemological skepticism a logically coherent theory? Support your answer with a well-reasoned argument free of any major errors of fact, fallacy or logical contradiction. I. Introduction * The matrix questions the nature of reality * How can we know for certain that the world is how we perceive it and not just a veil over our eyes? * Explain movie- trapped in virtual world believing they are in 21st century * Explanation proposes question, what is real? II. Main Points. * Main Character Morpheus: â€Å"What is ‘real’? How do you define ‘real’? If real is simply what you can feel, smell, taste and see, then ‘real’ is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain.† * Consequently, â€Å"How can we be sure our brain isn’t being tricked by some simulation to believe things are real, when they aren’t? This is how matrix proposes the challenge of epistemological skepticism. * Hallucination argument: Modus Tollens, question soundness (valid) 1. If we posses knowledge (K) we must be able to rule out the possibility of systematic hallucination (S). K S 2. ~S (the matrix hypothesis.) (MT 1) 3. ~ K ( MT 1 2) * One arguer against skepticism: John Hospers * Merely verbal * Skeptics take strong sense of the word knowledge, must have proof at all times * Others use weak sense, meaning we only need proof or evidence only when someone is proving otherwise. * Doubt is an empty word * Basic point: once a test has been done to remove doubt we have a good reason to believe it is true, thus we have knowledge. III. Conclusion * Skeptics believe knowledge is unobtainable, in this case the hallucination argument proves the premises are true through Modus Tollens. Although the argument is sound, it is self-defeating because skeptics believe they know that they don’t really â€Å"know† anything. Moreover, complete epistemological skepticism is not a logically coherent view because the argument being claimed would require the person to have knowledge to conduct such argument.

Monitoring Patients Through Telehealth Essay -- Health Care

Introduction Telehealth is the monitoring via remote exchange of physiological data between a patient at home and health care professionals at hospitals or clinics to assist with diagnosis and treatment. As our society ages and health care costs increase, government and private insurance payers are seeking technological interventions. Technological solutions may provide high quality healthcare services at a distance, utilize professional resources more effectively, and enable elderly and ill patients to remain in their own homes. Patients may experience decreased hospitalization and urgent care settings, and out of home care may not be required as the patient is monitored at home. However, no study has been able to prove telehealth benefits conclusively. This change in health care delivery presents new ethical concerns, and new relationship boundaries between health care professionals, patients, and family members. This paper will discuss telehealth benefits in specific patient populations , costs benefits of using telehealth, and concerns of using telehealth. Literature Review Telehealth has shown benefits in monitoring patients with chronic health conditions, decreasing hospital admissions and emergency room visits, and improving treatment regimen compliance at home. Zimmerman & Barnason (2007) investigated the use of telehealth devices with cardiac surgical patients. Health Buddy devices can deliver information, education, and professional support for post-operative cardiac patients. The patient’s responses triggered different algorithms to further individualize post-operative interventions (Zimmerman & Barnason, 2006). Health care professionals were able to monitor recovery at home, progress following cardiac s... ...rsing education. Teaching with Technology, 32(3), 189-194. Mackenzie, R., & Sakel, M. (2011, April/May). Teleneurology: Ethics of devolving responsibilities from clinicians to families and/or carers. British Journal of Neuroscience Nursing, 7(2), 490-493. Rothwell, E., Ellington, L., Planalp, S., & Crouch, B. (2011, August 25). Exploring challenges to telehealth communication by specialist in poison information. Qualitative Health Research, 22(1), 67-75. doi:10.1177/1049732311420446 Shore, J. H., Brooks, E., Savin, D. M., Manson, S. M., & Libby, A. M. (2007, June). An economic evaluation of telehealth data collection with rural populations. Psychiatic Services, 58(6), 830-835. Zimmerman, L., & Barnason, S. (2006). Use of a telehealth device to deliver a symptom management intervention to cardiac surgical patients. Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, 22(1), 32-37.

Why do Significant Numbers of American fail to vote?

Between 1960 and 1996, the turnout of American's voting in a presidential election had fallen by 14%. This brought the percentage to 51% of Americans turning up to vote. This decline in turnout is due to a number of reasons; > The Decline in numbers of party Activists > Loss of Political Efficacy > Many elections have low-stimulus characters > Most elections are uncompetitive > Poor Turnout among young people > People are happy with what they have > It is difficult to understand the voting system Out of these reasons, I feel some stand out the strongest. These include; the understanding of the voting system, poor turnout among young people and that people are happy with what they have. Understanding of the Voting System All Voting systems can be fairly difficult to understand and this includes the very democratic American System. It is no longer just the people with learning difficulties that find the system hard to understand, as it is no longer the person with the majority vote wins, therefore because people don't understand it, they tend to stay away rather then get confused and embarrass themselves. This also links with the ability of people having to register to vote. To register they have to attend a government building, and some people do not have the time, or means of transport too do this, therefore they decide as it's not a law too vote, they don't bother. Also, even if people do register the ability to get too a polling station is a problem. As everything is very spaced out in America, and generally a car is needed to travel between places, if a potential voter does not have a car, they will not bother too vote. This can also be linked with the 2000 Presidential Election, when roadblocks were put in plce in parts of Florida, stopping people from reaching the polling stations, this not only ensured a particular candidate won the vote of Florida, it also stopped a significant number of voters voting. Poor Turnout among Young People In 2004, the turnout of young people aged 18 – 24 was at a low of 47%. The possible reasons for this could be that as politics is not considered an essential subject at school, many youths do not understand or care about it. This then creates a generation of people who do not care about politics and do not want too vote, which then means that when that generation stops being considered youths, they still aren't voting, and neither are the new generation of youths. The reason for low turnout could also be that Political campaigns are generally aimed at an older generation, meaning it becomes something that youths don't bother to focus on. Politicians know that the turnout among youths is low so do not bother wasting their money campaigning to them if they have a limited amount of money. This then causes the campaigns too become something that youths don't have to focus on and as it doesn't have much interest to them because they don't understand it, they tend not too waste their time getting involved in it. People are Happy with what they have ‘If it ain't broke, don't fix it', This is the way that many people feel about politics. For many potential voters, they feel they have everything they need and could ask for from the government and feel that voting to change that would take away some of the things they enjoy in life. As long as there are no wars on their own soil, their kids have a good education, they have good jobs and healthcare and reasonable taxes then they feel that the government is doing a good job and they don't want too risk that by potentially giving another party or candidate office. Solutions To these Problems These problems can be solved and would increase voter turnout by a considerable amount. By handing out and posting leaflets that explain the voting system and how each and every vote matters and counts, as well as having lectures in easy to reach places, would increase turnout because people would understand the system and the importance of voting. Also by creating postal ballots etc, it would be easier for people who would otherwise find it difficult to vote and also by making registering to vote easier. To tackle the youth problem, politics would need to be taught as part fo the curriculum in schools, this problem has already started too be solved, as was seen during the 2004 election when various celebrities had a campaign with MTV urging people to vote, if this continues on a wider scale, as well as making parts of party conferences for Youths only and aiming campaigns directly at them, this would increase turnout in forth coming elections but also elections in the distant future. Finally, by trying to show flaws in the system and how to make improvements (which is already done, but could be issued in a more one to one with the voter method) would show potential voters why they need to vote because of the changes they can make and the added benefits they could receive.

Computer programs Essay

Computer programs that reside in a host computer’s memory and control its functionality, in order to obtain information residing on the host computer, are known as hostile code. Viruses like the Melissa, The Love Bug, Hybris, and CIH are the best examples of hostile code. The development of the internet has helped the release, transmission and effectiveness of hostile code and its rapid development (Robert J. Bagnall, March 14, 2001). Hostile code has been classified into three categories, namely, Viruses which are computer programs usually hidden within other seemingly harmless programs. These malicious programs reproduce and get embedded in other programs with the intention of performing some harmful action (Merriam-Webster OnLine, n. d). They spread from file to file on the same computer and not to other computers from that computer (Symantec, n. d). Worms, which are self contained programs that spread copies of it to other computer systems, via networks connections like the IRC or as email attachments. They replicate like viruses, but spread from computer to computer. They are much more dangerous than viruses because they spread faster and affect entire computer networks. Trojan Horses, which contain hidden commands within code resembling a useful program. They make the computer do what was not intended to be done by the user. They erase specific files; format hard disk drives, steal passwords and install server programs onto the infected computer in order to permit remote access. In order to tackle hostile code attacks, forensics use intrusion detection and incident response. Intrusions are suspicious computer activity these are dealt with by the following step wise procedure, preparation, detection, investigation, eradication, recovery and follow up. That such an attack is taking place can be assumed whenever, there are service slowdowns or malfunctions, web defacements, anonymous tips, etc. The aim will be to isolate and contain the attacker by setting up a so called victim machine or target subnet on the network. Once the IP Address is determined, then the source of the attacks can be determined. A few of the methods used in this process are the ping and traceroute facilities, suppose the IP Address is known but it is not in quad format then one can use the ping or traceroute detect the IP Address in the normal quad format. In case the domain name is known but not the IP Address or vice versa, then one can use the nslookup tool. This tool works with UNIX, Windows NT and Windows 2000. While, registering the domain name it is essential to furnish details of name and contact address. The whois utility is used to obtain contact information on a specific domain to obtain the contact details of all persons registered with them. One of the more well known of such utilities are provided by the Sam Spade Web site (http://samspade. org) and the one provided by Network Solutions. After the contact information is obtained a traceroute is run to determine the route that the data packets are following. In this manner the source of the hostile code can be determined (Heiser and Kruse, 2001). Sources Bagnall, Robert J.Computer Viruses & Security WARNING: Visual Basic, Active X, Java and other Mobile Code, Retrieved March 29, 2006 from http://membrane. com /security /java_and_cookies/notes/mobile_code_malware. html Merriam-Webster OnLine. Retrieved March 29, 2006, from the World Wide Web: http://www. m-w. com/cgi-bin/dictionary? virus Symantec. Retrieved March 29, 2006, from the World Wide Web: http://www. symantec. com/avcenter/virus. backgrounder. html Heiser, Jay G. and Kruse II, Warren G. Computer Forensics: Tracking an Offender. Addison – Wesley Professional. Boston MA.