Financial reporting reform and choices made by smaller entities

The aim of this study is to provide generalisable evidence of the utility of the statutory financial statements of small companies to the directors. The paper focuses on current and likely future financial reporting practices and the reasons for them

Coleridge, Wordsworth, and the Rhine Tour of 1828

This essay explores Coleridge's and Wordsworth's Continental "reunion tour" in the summer of 1828. It asks why the poetic output of this tour was so meagre, on both sides, and considers this in the context of their lives and literary careers at that point in time, and in particular the two poets' shared experience of ageing. In addition to poems, letters, and Coleridge's notebooks, the essay draws on Dora Wordsworth's unpublished manuscript journal of the 1828 tour

In Search of Robert Lovell: Poet and Pantisocrat

© 2016 British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies. Robert Lovell (1771-1796) is known chiefly as one of the apostles of the ill-fated Pantisocratic emigration scheme conceived by Coleridge and Southey. This essay considers Lovell’s life and work in their own right. It establishes the biographical facts and builds a portrait of his character and personality.With reference to recent work on the importance of literary coteries, it re-evaluates Lovell’s role in Joseph Cottle’s circle and in the cultural life of eighteenth-century Bristol. It also undertakes a fresh assessment of Lovell’s own poetry, with a particular focus on his treatment of his home city in Bristol: A Satire (1794)

Testing but not treating: missed opportunities and lost lives in the South African ART programme

Recently published WHO guidance recommends starting ART in HIV-infected adults with CD4 counts of ≤350 cells/μl [1]. There is mounting evidence that such a policy will lead to lower mortality among HIV-infected individuals [2]. Also modeling data suggests that expanded testing and earlier treatment will reduce HIV transmission [3]. In South Africa ART coverage is not meeting current needs, even using the CD4 count criteria of <200 cells/μl, and mortality early in ART programmes is high due to advanced immunosuppression at initiation [4]. Fortunately, following limited government leadership around HIV in the past, South African President Jacob Zuma has encouraged widespread HIV testing, and announced that he will undertake an HIV test [5]

A short history of humour in travel writing

Until comparatively recent times, travel writing has not been a genre renowned for its humorous qualities. Yet nothing demonstrates the cultural and historical relativity of humour as clearly as the evolution of travel writing from the early nineteenth century onwards. With a focus on three narratives of failed quests, this essay traces the broad developmental arc of humour in travel writing over two hundred years. The narrative of John Ross’s Arctic expedition exemplifies the way in which colonial-era writing invites readers to share a comic superiority over simple-minded indigenes. From the mid-twentieth century, Eric Newby’s work illustrates a trend towards self-irony and self-mockery whereby humour becomes a versatile expression of the rhetoric of anti-conquest. Finally, Bill Bryson’s books typify the increasing reliance in contemporary writing on incongruities of form and content and other strategies consistent with the development of a post-touristic travel stance

InSight Aerothermal Environment Assessment

The InSight spacecraft was proposed to be a build-to-print copy of the Phoenix vehicle due to the knowledge that the lander payload would be similar and the trajectory would be similar. However, the InSight aerothermal analysts, based on tests performed in CO2 during the Mars Science Laboratory mission (MSL) and completion of Russian databases, considered radiative heat flux to the aftbody from the wake for the first time for a US Mars mission. The combined convective and radiative heat flux was used to determine if the as-flown Phoenix thermal protection system (TPS) design would be sufficient for InSight. All analyses showed that the design would be adequate. Once the InSight lander was successfully delivered to Mars on November 26, 2018, work began to reconstruct the atmosphere and trajectory in order to evaluate the aerothermal environments that were actually encountered by the spacecraft and to compare them to the design environments.The best estimated trajectory (BET) reconstructed for the InSight atmospheric entry fell between the two trajectories considered for the design, when looking at the velocity versus altitude values. The maximum heat rate design trajectory (MHR) flew at a higher velocity and the maximum heat load design trajectory (MHL) flew at a lower velocity than the BET. For TPS sizing, the MHL trajectory drove the design. Reconstruction has shown that the BET flew for a shorter time than either of the design environments, hence total heat load on the vehicle should have been less than used in design. Utilizing the BET, both DPLR and LAURA were first run to analyze the convective heating on the vehicle with no angle of attack. Both codes were run with axisymmetric, laminar flow in radiative equilibrium and vibrational non-equilibrium with a surface emissivity of 0.8. Eight species Mitcheltree chemistry was assumed with CO2, CO, N2, O2, NO, C, N, and O. Both codes agreed within 1% on the forebody and had the expected differences on the aftbody. The NEQAIR and HARA codes were used to analyze the radiative heating on the vehicle using full spherical ray-tracing. The codes agreed within 5% on most aftbody points of interest.The LAURA code was then used to evaluate the conditions at angle of attack at the peak heating and peak pressure times. Boundary layer properties were investigated to confirm that the flow over the forebody was laminar for the flight.Comparisons of the aerothermal heating determined for the reconstructed trajectory to the design trajectories showed that the as-flown conditions were less severe than desig

InSight Aerothermal Environment Assessment

The Mars Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) spacecraft, which successfully touched down on the planet surface on November 26, 2018, was proposed as a near build-to-print copy of the Mars Phoenix vehicle to reduce the overall cost and risk of the mission. Since the lander payload and the atmospheric entry trajectory were similar enough to those of the Phoenix mission, it was expected that the Phoenix thermal protection material thickness would be sufficient to withstand the entry heat load. However, allowances were made for increasing the heatshield thickness because the planned spacecraft arrival date coincided with the Mars dust storm season. The aftbody Thermal Protection System (TPS) components were not expected to change. In a first for a US Mars mission, the aerothermal environments for InSight included estimates of radiative heat flux to the aftbody from the wake. The combined convective and radiative heat fluxes were used to determine if the as-flown Phoenix thermal protection system (TPS) design would be sufficient for InSight. Although the radiative heat fluxes on the aftbody were predicted to be comparable to, or even higher than the local convective heat fluxes, all analyses of the aftbody TPS showed that the design would still be adequate. Aerothermal environments were computed for the vehicle from post-flight reconstruction of the atmosphere and trajectory and compared

Leadership in Effective Middle Schools: A Shared or Solitary Activity.

The primary purpose of this study was to identify and examine patterns of leadership within effective middle schools. A three phase research methodology including both quantitative and qualitative techniques was utilized. Phase I of the study involved the development of the Faculty Involvement Survey. Phase II was conducted with a sample of 46 differentially effective 6th-8th grade middle schools in Louisiana. Data collection for this phase consisted of the administration of the Faculty Involvement Survey which was aimed at determining the instructional leadership structure of the school. Four leadership patterns ranging from principal only to overall faculty involvement were identified. Based upon the results of these surveys, a smaller sample of four effective middle schools across the state were selected that were representative of the leadership structures of the schools in the Phase II sample. Phase III of the data collection included the development of case studies of the leadership structures and behaviors in the four selected effective middle schools. These case studies were developed through on-site visits to the schools which included observations, interviews, and Social Network Analysis. The findings of this study indicate differences in the leadership patterns in low-SES and mid-SES middle schools. Instructional leadership in effective mid-SES middle schools was found to be more likely to be shared by faculty members rather than to be the solitary activity of the principal as was more common in low-SES schools of the same type. These results confirm results of earlier studies in effective elementary schools which indicate variation in the roles of the principals in these schools based upon the SES of the school. In addition, the results of this study indicate that teacher leadership activities continue to primarily involve those activities traditionally regarded as instructional in nature, while administrative members of the school team have maintained authority over those areas involving the daily management of the school. Additionally, the results from the Social Network Analyses indicate that communication networks of schools in which shared leadership is practiced are less cohesive and less centralized than has traditionally been expected in effective schools

InSight Aerothermal Environment Assessment

The Mars Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) spacecraft, which successfully touched down on the planet surface on November 26, 2018, was proposed as a near build-to-print copy of the Mars Phoenix vehicle to reduce the overall cost and risk of the mission. Since the lander payload and the atmospheric entry trajectory were similar enough to those of the Phoenix mission, it was expected that the Phoenix thermal protection material thickness would be sufficient to withstand the entry heat load. However, allowances were made for increasing the heatshield thickness because the planned spacecraft arrival date coincided with the Mars dust storm season. The aftbody Thermal Protection System (TPS) components were not expected to change. In a first for a US Mars mission, the aerothermal environments for InSight included estimates of radiative heat flux to the aftbody from the wake. The combined convective and radiative heat fluxes were used to determine if the as-flown Phoenix thermal protection system (TPS) design would be sufficient for InSight. Although the radiative heat fluxes on the aftbody were predicted to be comparable to, or even higher than the local convective heat fluxes, all analyses of the aftbody TPS showed that the design would still be adequate. Aerothermal environments were computed for the vehicle from post-flight reconstruction of the atmosphere and trajectory and compared with the design environments. These comparisons showed that the predicted as-flown conditions were less severe than the design conditions