A design science approach to developing and determining web site quality dimensions for the public accounting profession

Public Accounting (PA) firms play an important role in both the local and the international business environment. Their accounting and business services functions cut across organisations, sectors and industries. Like other professional service firms, PA firms are becoming concerned about the World Wide Web (web) since the services they offer can be delivered via the web more efficiently (eg. at a lower cost) and effectively (24/7). Thus there is a need to assess the quality of their web site. This study developed an instrument for measuring PA web site quality based on an extensive literature review which identified the previously widely used WebQuaL (TMI)” questionnaire but extended it to four quality dimensions (usability, information quality, interactivity and riskiness), supported by 24 research variables. Design Science, as conceptualised by Hevner et al. (2004), provided the guiding theory for the research. Hevner et al. (2004) proposed a framework consisting of seven guidelines to guide Information Systems (IS) researchers and practitioners on how to conduct, evaluate and present design science research. Two of the guidelines, namely design artefact and design evaluation, were followed in this study. The study was executed in a controlled laboratory selling in which post-graduate university students, potential clients of PA firms, used the WebQual/PA questionnaire to evaluate the web sites of six leading professional accounting firms. One hundred-and-two students participated in the study. The data collected was analysed using quantitative analysis techniques to assess the reliability and validity of the instrument and quality of the PA web sites. Moderating factors were investigated in relation to their effect on the constructs and variables determining PA web site quality. A number of conclusions can be drawn from the outcome of the study. They cover practical as well as theoretical aspects. First, the study provides PA practitioners with validated, reliable web site quality dimensions. With the emergence of online professional services, PA firms will increasingly seek to evaluate the quality of their web sites. Second, this study adds to our understanding of WebQual, an instrument that has been widely used in IS research. WebQual/PA has its origins in WebQual version 4 but was refined to meet the needs of the PA sector. Third, the results of a relative assessment of quality provide valuable feedback to professional practices. The study shows that \u27usability\u27 was ranked highest by study participants of all the l1m1s and indicates that this dimension is the most developed dimension within the PA sector. lt is followed by \u27information quality\u27. \u27lnteractivity\u27 and \u27riskiness\u27 arc areas requiring attention as they seem to lag behind the others. The study enabled recommendations to be made to improve the quality of web sites of the sector as well as the individual firms that were evaluated. In this way, the research adopted the philosophy of pragmatism in which knowledge is strongly linked to action. In the study, the knowledge gained is translated into action via recommendations made to each of the firms. Furthermore, since action permeates on knowledge, there have to be linkages to an actable world (Goldkhul, 2004, p. 18). A simple test for this is to be able to trace concrete consequences (p. 19). This will occur when PA firms take up the recommendations made in this study

Wenn Angst dein Leben kontrolliert : Teilhabe am Leben mit einer Angststörung

Einleitung und Hintergrund: Angststörungen gehören zu den häufigsten psychischen Erkrankungen. Untersuchungen zeigen eine klare Zunahme der Krankheitsfälle in den vergangenen Jahren auf. Leidet eine Person unter einer Angststörung, kann sie durch diese zwangsläufig so stark beeinflusst werden, dass ihre persönlichen Interessen gänzlich in den Hintergrund geraten. Ziel: Das Ziel dieser Arbeit besteht darin, spezifische Einschränkungen von Menschen mit einer Angststörung in ihren verschiedenen Lebensbereichen aufzuzeigen. Methode: Das Vorgehen der Literaturrecherche und die verwendete Literatur werden entsprechend aufgezeigt. Die Methode beschreibt unter anderem die kritische Evaluation der Hauptliteratur sowie die festgelegten Ein- und Ausschlusskriterien. Relevante Ergebnisse: Es wurden 31 Fallbeispiele aus zwölf literarischen oder Fachwerken zusammengetragen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass in den interpersonellen Interaktionen und Beziehungen sowie in der Mobilität die erheblichsten Einschränkungen bestehen. Gesamthaft gesehen sind bei einer Angststörung jedoch alle Lebensbereiche der Partizipation eingeschränkt. Schlussfolgerung: Die vorliegende Arbeit zeigt eine klare Forschungslücke in der Primärliteratur auf. Fachpersonen sollen die Betroffenen mit einer Angststörung unterstützen, ihre Teilhabe in allen Lebensbereichen ermöglichen. Für die Ergotherapie bedeutet dies, dass sie die Integration in das soziale Umfeld und die Gesellschaft von Betroffenen frühzeitig ermöglichen sollen. Um eine bessere Akzeptanz in der Gesellschaft zu erreichen, sollte die Bevölkerung zukünftig auf besser das Krankheitsbild der Angststörung sensibilisiert werden

Extreme midlatitude cyclones and their implications for precipitation and wind speed extremes in simulations of the Maunder Minimum versus present day conditions

Extreme midlatitude cyclone characteristics, precipitation, wind speed events, their inter-relationships, and the connection to large-scale atmospheric patterns are investigated in simulations of a prolonged cold period, known as the Maunder Minimum from 1640 to 1715 and compared with today. An ensemble of six simulations for the Maunder Minimum as well as a control simulation for perpetual 1990 conditions are carried out with a coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model, i.e., the Climate Community System Model (CCSM). The comparison of the simulations shows that in a climate state colder than today the occurrence of cyclones, the extreme events of precipitation and wind speed shift southward in all seasons in the North Atlantic and the North Pacific. The extremes of cyclone intensity increases significantly in winter in almost all regions, which is related to a stronger meridional temperature gradient and an increase in lower tropospheric baroclinicity. Extremes of cyclone intensity in subregions of the North Atlantic are related to extremes in precipitation and in wind speed during winter. Moreover, extremes of cyclone intensity are also connected to distinct large-scale atmospheric patterns for the different subregions, but these relationships vanish during summer. Analyzing the mean 1,000hPa geopotential height change of the Maunder Minimum simulations compared with the control simulation, we find a similar pattern as the correlation pattern with the cyclone intensity index of the southern Europe cyclones. This illustrates that changes in the atmospheric high-frequency, i.e., the simulated southward shift of cyclones in the North Atlantic and the related increase of extreme precipitation and wind speed in particular in the Mediterranean in winter, are associated with large-scale atmospheric circulation change

A European pattern climatology 1766-2000

Using monthly independently reconstructed gridded European fields for the 500hPa geopotential height, temperature, and precipitation covering the last 235years we investigate the temporal and spatial evolution of these key climate variables and assess the leading combined patterns of climate variability. Seasonal European temperatures show a positive trend mainly over the last 40years with absolute highest values since 1766. Precipitation indicates no clear trend. Spatial correlation technique reveals that winter, spring, and autumn covariability between European temperature and precipitation is mainly influenced by advective processes, whereas during summer convection plays the dominant role. Empirical Orthogonal Function analysis is applied to the combined fields of pressure, temperature, and precipitation. The dominant patterns of climate variability for winter, spring, and autumn resemble the North Atlantic Oscillation and show a distinct positive trend during the past 40years for winter and spring. A positive trend is also detected for summer pattern 2, which reflects an increased influence of the Azores High towards central Europe and the Mediterranean coinciding with warm and dry conditions. The question to which extent these recent trends in European climate patterns can be explained by internal variability or are a result of radiative forcing is answered using cross wavelets on an annual basis. Natural radiative forcing (solar and volcanic) has no imprint on annual European climate patterns. Connections to CO2 forcing are only detected at the margins of the wavelets where edge effects are apparent and hence one has to be cautious in a further interpretatio

Five hundred years of gridded high-resolution precipitation reconstructions over Europe and the connection to large-scale circulation

We present seasonal precipitation reconstructions for European land areas (30°W to 40°E/30-71°N; given on a 0.5°×0.5° resolved grid) covering the period 1500-1900 together with gridded reanalysis from 1901 to 2000 (Mitchell and Jones 2005). Principal component regression techniques were applied to develop this dataset. A large variety of long instrumental precipitation series, precipitation indices based on documentary evidence and natural proxies (tree-ring chronologies, ice cores, corals and a speleothem) that are sensitive to precipitation signals were used as predictors. Transfer functions were derived over the 1901-1983 calibration period and applied to 1500-1900 in order to reconstruct the large-scale precipitation fields over Europe. The performance (quality estimation based on unresolved variance within the calibration period) of the reconstructions varies over centuries, seasons and space. Highest reconstructive skill was found for winter over central Europe and the Iberian Peninsula. Precipitation variability over the last half millennium reveals both large interannual and decadal fluctuations. Applying running correlations, we found major non-stationarities in the relation between large-scale circulation and regional precipitation. For several periods during the last 500years, we identified key atmospheric modes for southern Spain/northern Morocco and central Europe as representations of two precipitation regimes. Using scaled composite analysis, we show that precipitation extremes over central Europe and southern Spain are linked to distinct pressure patterns. Due to its high spatial and temporal resolution, this dataset allows detailed studies of regional precipitation variability for all seasons, impact studies on different time and space scales, comparisons with high-resolution climate models as well as analysis of connections with regional temperature reconstruction

ENSO influence on Europe during the last centuries

El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) affects climate not only in the Pacific region and the tropics, but also in the North Atlantic-European area. Studies based on twentieth-century data have found that El Niño events tend to be accompanied in late winter by a negative North Atlantic Oscillation index, low temperatures in northeastern Europe and a change in precipitation patterns. However, many questions are open, for example, concerning the stationarity of this relation. Here we study the relation between ENSO and European climate during the past 500 years based on statistically reconstructed ENSO indices, early instrumental station series, and reconstructed fields of surface air temperature, sea-level pressure, precipitation, and 500hPa geopotential height. After removing years following tropical volcanic eruptions (which systematically mask the ENSO signal), we find a consistent and statistically significant ENSO signal in late winter and spring. The responses to El Niño and La Niña are close to symmetric. In agreement with studies using twentieth-century data only, the ENSO signal in precipitation is different in fall than in late winter. Moving correlation analyses confirm a stationary relationship between ENSO and late winter climate in Europe during the past 300 years. However, the ENSO signal is modulated significantly by the North Pacific climate. A multi-field cluster analysis for strong ENSO events during the past 300 years yields a dominant pair of clusters that is symmetric and represents the ‘classical' ENSO effects on Europ

Changes in phasic femoral artery flow induced by various stimuli: a study with percutaneous pulsed Doppler ultrasound

Transcutaneous blood flow measurements were performed by means of a pulsed Doppler ultrasound flowmeter in the femoral artery of healthy subjects. The pulsatile flow pattern was changed characteristically from resting state by postocclusive reactive hyperaemia, by the application of amyl nitrite, xanthinol nicotinate, and angiotensin amide. During reactive hyperaemia systolic flow was increased, diastolic reverse flow was abolished, and the forward flow continued throughout diastole. Amyl nitrite augmented the negative flow phase and reduced mean flow, while xanthinol nicotinate decreased the negative component and augmented mean flow. Angiotensin amide produced enhancement of the average flow by elevating systolic and diastolic flow equally over the base line. In each of these interventions the changes in flow were determined mainly by variations during the diastolic flow phas

European climate response to tropical volcanic eruptions over the last half millennium

We analyse the winter and summer climatic signal following 15 major tropical volcanic eruptions over the last half millennium based on multi-proxy reconstructions for Europe. During the first and second post-eruption years we find significant continental scale summer cooling and somewhat drier conditions over Central Europe. In the Northern Hemispheric winter the volcanic forcing induces an atmospheric circulation response that significantly follows a positive NAO state connected with a significant overall warm anomaly and wetter conditions over Northern Europe. Our findings compare well with GCM studies as well as observational studies, which mainly cover the substantially shorter instrumental period and thus include a limited set of major eruptions

Seasonal temperatures for the past ∼400years reconstructed from diatom and chironomid assemblages in a high-altitude lake (Lej da la Tscheppa, Switzerland)

We analysed a 42cm long sediment record from Lej da la Tscheppa, a high-altitude lake (2,616ma.s.l.) in the Upper Engadine valley (Switzerland) for subfossil diatoms, chironomids and pollen. The chronology of the top 21cm of the record was established using 210Pb analysis using a constant-rate-of-supply model, and validated with 137Cs measurements and the content of spheroidal carbonaceous particles. A tentative chronology for the lower part of the core was obtained through extrapolation of the sedimentation rates in the uppermost part of the record. Pollen assemblages in the record reflect regional changes in forestation and land-use patterns in the Upper Engadine valley and show no evidence of significant local human activity in the lake's catchment. Diatom assemblages record a distinct increase in planktonic taxa since the early 19th century, suggesting a decrease in the duration of ice-cover. In contrast, chironomid assemblages remained stable during a large part of the record. We applied an established chironomid-based July air temperature transfer function and a newly developed diatom-based spring air temperature transfer function to reconstruct past seasonal air temperature changes at Lej da la Tscheppa. The reconstructions indicate a diatom-inferred warming trend in spring temperatures during the past ca. 400years, whereas chironomid-inferred summer temperatures suggest a slight cooling trend. These biota-based reconstructions are in good agreement with the centennial-scale temperature trend in an independent reconstruction of regional temperatures in the Upper Engadine region based on instrumental records and documentary proxy evidence from the Alps. Our results suggest that, in high-altitude lakes, independent chironomid- and diatom-based seasonal temperature reconstruction is possible and can be successfully used to track seasonal temperature trend