The implications of new financial reporting standards on New Zealand charities

This research aims to analyse the impact of new reporting standards on NZ charities. The research specifically focuses on the implications of new reporting standards of charities in areas like transparency, convenience for practitioners and accounting costs under new reporting standards. The research covers transparency aspects by trying to find the difference in truthful and accurate representation of charities in their annual financial reports after the introduction of new standards, compared to when charities were self-regulated under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. The research also covers the aspect of practitioners’ convenience, by investigating whether new reporting standards made accounting practices for charities easier and clearer, or more complicated. Lastly, research was conducted to ascertain the increase or decrease in accounting cost for charities to comply with new financial reporting standards. The study used qualitative methodology for research. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews to gain in-depth knowledge of the impact of new reporting standards on charities. There were four participants in total, accountants working for different charities. The duration of each interview was approximately 20 minutes, and were conducted at the charity organisation’s premises. The method of analysis used for the research was content analysis. The findings of the research suggest that the new reporting standards and statutory audit requirements have generally increased transparency within the charity sector in New Zealand. On the other hand, accounting costs have gone up for charities, especially Tier 2 and tier 3 charities. Charities that previously complied with IFRS have to face minimal effect on accounting cost. The convenience for practitioners has decreased since smaller charities are finding it difficult to comply with new reporting requirements and preparation of service performance reports which are now part of annual reporting. New financial reporting standards have provided a much-needed reporting structure, especially to Tier 3 and Tier 4 charities. Charities that complied with IFRS for their annual reporting found it easy to make the transition to the new reporting standards. In conclusion, the new reporting standards are a step in a right direction. However charities services need to hold regular workshops in every region for charities in order to provide more awareness about new reporting requirements to help charities through this transition phase. Small charities usually operate on a very limited budged, so templates and training for service performance reporting should be provided these are now a part of annual reports for Tier 3 and Tier 4 charities

Magnitude and Extent of Contaminated Sediment and Toxicity in Chesapeake Bay

INTRODUCTION: This report summarizes the results of NOAA's sediment toxicity, chemistry, and benthic community studies in the Chesapeake Bay estuary. As part of the National Status and Trends (NS&T) Program, NOAA has conducted studies to determine the spatial extent and severity of chemical contamination and associated adverse biological effects in coastal bays and estuaries of the United States since 1991. Sediment contamination in U.S. coastal areas is a major environmental issue because of its potential toxic effects on biological resources and often, indirectly, on human health. Thus, characterizing and delineating areas of sediment contamination and toxicity and demonstrating their effect(s) on benthic living resources are viewed as important goals of coastal resource management. Benthic community studies have a history of use in regional estuarine monitoring programs and have been shown to be an effective indicator for describing the extent and magnitude of pollution impacts in estuarine ecosystems, as well as for assessing the effectiveness of management actions. Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuarine system in the United States. Including tidal tributaries, the Bay has approximately 18,694 km of shoreline (more than the entire US West Coast). The watershed is over 165,000 km2 (64,000 miles2), and includes portions of six states (Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia) and the District of Columbia. The population of the watershed exceeds 15 million people. There are 150 rivers and streams in the Chesapeake drainage basin. Within the watershed, five major rivers - the Susquehanna, Potomac, Rappahannock, York and James - provide almost 90% of the freshwater to the Bay. The Bay receives an equal volume of water from the Atlantic Ocean. In the upper Bay and tributaries, sediments are fine-grained silts and clays. Sediments in the middle Bay are mostly made of silts and clays derived from shoreline erosion. In the lower Bay, by contrast, the sediments are sandy. These particles come from shore erosion and inputs from the Atlantic Ocean. The introduction of European-style agriculture and large scale clearing of the watershed produced massive shifts in sediment dynamics of the Bay watershed. As early as the mid 1700s, some navigable rivers were filled in by sediment and sedimentation caused several colonial seaports to become landlocked. Toxic contaminants enter the Bay via atmospheric deposition, dissolved and particulate runoff from the watershed or direct discharge. While contaminants enter the Bay from several sources, sediments accumulate many toxic contaminants and thus reveal the status of input for these constituents. In the watershed, loading estimates indicate that the major sources of contaminants are point sources, stormwater runoff, atmospheric deposition, and spills. Point sources and urban runoff in the Bay proper contribute large quantities of contaminants. Pesticide inputs to the Bay have not been quantified. Baltimore Harbor and the Elizabeth River remain among the most contaminated areas in the Unites States. In the mainstem, deep sediment core analyses indicate that sediment accumulation rates are 2-10 times higher in the northern Bay than in the middle and lower Bay, and that sedimentation rates are 2-10 times higher than before European settlement throughout the Bay (NOAA 1998). The core samples show a decline in selected PAH compounds over the past several decades, but absolute concentrations are still 1 to 2 orders of magnitude above 'pristine' conditions. Core data also indicate that concentrations of PAHs, PCBs and, organochlorine pesticides do not demonstrate consistent trends over 25 years, but remain 10 times lower than sediments in the tributaries. In contrast, tri-butyl-tin (TBT) concentrations in the deep cores have declined significantly since it=s use was severely restricted. (PDF contains 241 pages

Azadirachta indica induced suppression of Mycobacterium tuberculosis secreted proteins in human monocyte

The H37Rv strain of MTB was grown in modified Sauton’s medium till mid-log phase. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were isolated by density gradient sedimentation on Ficoll-Paque separation medium. Adherent monocytes obtained from PBMC’s were infected with H37Rv for 90 min. in the ratio of 1:1 (1 bug: 1 cell). Thereafter, after washing, infected cells were co-cultured with varying doses of neem extract for 24 hrs, and harvested subsequently. Modulation of secreted TNF-[alpha], iNOS and MTB Ag85 complex expressions in culture supernatants was estimated by ELISA.
We report the high basal expression of secreted tumor necrosis factor-[alpha] (TNF-[alpha]), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and MTB Ag85 complex in MTB-infected monocytes was suppressed by neem extract in a dose-dependent manner (P<0.001 for all). A concentration of 1ug/ml of neem extract showed a suppression by ~ 2.5-fold (P<0.001), 1.7-fold (P<0.001) and 1.8-fold (P<0.001) in the expressions of
secreted TNF-[alpha], iNOS and MTB Ag85 respectively in 24 hr culture supernatants of MTB-infected monocytes.
Thus, neem extract seems to be a potential future adjunct for in-depth studies in the management of tuberculosis

Nutritional and lifestyle risk behaviors and their association with mental health and violence among Pakistani adolescents: results from the National Survey of 4583 individuals

Background: Unhealthy behaviors are associated with mental health problems and violence in adolescents, yet their combined association has been understudied. Using the Global School Health Survey, this study examined the association between combined unhealthy behaviors (including fast food, soft drink, smoking, other tobacco products and physical inactivity) and anxiety, suicidal ideation and involvement in physical fight among Pakistani adolescents. Methods: Data were obtained from the Global School Health Survey conducted in Pakistan (2009). The study population consisted of school going adolescents aged 13 to 15 years. Association of combined unhealthy behaviors with anxiety, suicidal ideation and involvement in physical fight were studied through secondary analysis. We used univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis by complex sample method, accounting for cluster sampling technique used for data collection. Results: Of the total 4583 students, weighted percentage and unweighted count for one, two, three and four or more unhealthy behaviors was 39.4% (n = 1770), 22.1% (n = 963), 5.9% (n = 274) and 1.2% (n = 62) respectively. The weighted prevalence for anxiety, suicidal ideation and involvement in physical fight were 8.4%, 7.3% and 37.4% respectively. The results of multivariate logistic regression analysis after adjustment showed that students who had four or more unhealthy behaviors had higher odds of; being anxious (OR 2.45, 95% CI 1.31-4.59, p value 0.004), suicide ideation (OR 4.56, 95% CI 2.58-8.07, p value &lt;0.001) and being involved in physical fight (OR 3.15, 95% CI 1.63–6.08, p value &lt;0.001) as compared to those who had not adopted any unhealthy behaviors. Conclusions: This study suggests that the co-occurrence of unhealthy behaviors is associated with anxiety, suicidal ideation and physical fight among adolescents. These findings should be considered when developing interventions to combat detrimental outcomes of unhealthy behaviors during adolescence.</p

Measuring Sustainability - UK wealth accounts for 25 years

What is sustainability and how do we measure it? Sustainability could be achieved through sustainable development and much of the literature on sustainable development has taken human well-being to be the object to be sustained. By constructing a very large and extensive National Accounts consistent database, this study develops an original set of UK wealth accounts for 25 years – 1988 to 2012 – to measure UK sustainability. While doing so, this research calculates the monetary value of UK natural capital and human capital which is then added into produced capital to develop a first comprehensive wealth account for the UK. This thesis argues that both wealth accounting approaches - "top-down" and "bottom-up" - are conceptually the same. They only differ empirically because of the methodologies employed to calculate natural capital, human capital and total wealth. This thesis shows how these both approaches can be combined together to measure UK sustainability. This study concludes that since 2007 UK is not on a sustainable path. Despite a positive genuine savings, since 2007 UK wealth has a negative growth rate and wealth per capita is in decline. A positive genuine savings with a fall in wealth per capita shows that UK savings has not been sufficient to compensate for a fall in wealth and population growth. In order to reverse the trend, either UK has to reduce its population growth or it needs to reinvest in its capital asset bases. This thesis argues that an increase in population does not always decrease per capita wealth because an increase in population driven by a skilled work force increases the value of human capital and thus total wealth. This increase in wealth could offset an increase in population keeping per capita wealth intact. Furthermore, for UK, which is not a resource rich country, investment in human capital is needed to increase the rate of wealth growth

Design, microstructure and properties of metastable beta-type biomedical titanium alloys

Many existing implant biomaterials including cobalt-chromium alloy, stainless steel, Ti-6Al-4V and commercially pure titanium have all been shown to demonstrate mechanical incompatibility, poor osseointegration and/or cause cytotoxic effects on the human body after some years of application, leading to revision surgery in most cases. Consequently, there is an immediate need for an enduring biomaterial that displays good mechanical properties and possesses biocompatibility and corrosion resistance, in order to reduce rates of revision surgeries. In this PhD work, based on the ̅̅̅̅-̅̅̅̅̅, /̅̅̅̅̅-̅̅̅ and BF-d-electron superelastic theoretical relationships four new series of quaternary Ti-25Nb-8Zr-xCr, Ti-25Nb-xSn-yCr, Ti26Nb-xMn-yZr and Ti-25Nb-xMn-ySn alloys have been designed for the first time. These designed alloys were produced using the cold crucible levitation melting method, where the effect of balanced combination of β-isomorphous (Nb), β-eutectic (Cr, Mn) and neutral (Zr, Sn) elements on phase transformation, β-phase stability and mechanical properties of the alloys are investigated. Microstructural investigations of Ti-25Nb-8Zr-xCr (x = 0, 2, 4, 6, 8) demonstrate a single β phase, with the exception of Ti-25Nb-8Zr-0Cr which shows dual α and β phases. Furthermore, the addition of Cr is shown to be effective in achieving a single β phase where suppressing the formation of α phase. As the content of Cr increases, the yield strength (382-773 MPa) and hardness (1.91-2.63 GPa) also increase in Ti-25Nb-8Zr-xCr alloys. Notably, all the investigated alloys demonstrated significant strain hardening rates. The Ti-25Nb-xSn-yCr (x = 1, 3, 5 wt% and y= 2, 4 wt%) alloys demonstrated only β phase in their microstructures. It is of note that all Ti-25Nb-xSn-yCr alloys displayed large plasticity of ~80% without failure during mechanical testing. Yield strength, hardness and elastic modulus were (314-463) MPa, (2.36-1.93) GPa and (66-78) GPa, respectively. Ti-25Nb-1Sn-2Cr possessed the higher values of wear resistance indices (i.e. H/E and H ) as compared to commercially pure titanium and Ti-6Al-4V. The Microstructural features of Ti-26Nb-xZr-yMn (x = 4, 7, 10 wt% and y = 3, 5 wt%) alloys revealed a monolithic β phase. Notably, none of the alloys displayed failure and demonstrated substantial true plasticity of ~160% during mechanical compression testing. Yield strength, hardness and dislocation density were (609-451) MPa, (242-207) HV and (2.45×10 ) m 15 15 -0.4×10 -2 , respectively. Additionally, Ti-26Nb-4Zr-5Mn demonstrates good strain hardening ability and electrochemical kinetics in terms of high strain hardening indices (0.42 and 0.09) and small corrosion current density (0.839 nA/cm 2 ), respectively. In Ti-25Nb-xMn-ySn (x = 2, 4 wt% and y = 1, 5 wt%) alloys, it was found that only Ti-25Nb2Mn-1Sn displayed dual β and α phases while others showed a monolithic β phase. Yield strength, hardness and superelastic recovery ratio were (710-563) MPa, (244-207) HV and (9080) %, respectively. It is of noteworthy; Ti-25Nb-4Mn-1Sn displays the low elastic modulus and high energy absorption. The results demonstrate that among the investigated alloys Ti-25Nb-8Zr-4Cr, Ti-25Nb-1Sn2Cr, Ti-26Nb-4Zr-5Mn and Ti-25Nb-4Mn-1Sn display superior combination of mechanical properties making them suitable materials for implant applications

Application of Stochastic Volatility Model to KSE-100

The paper examines the implementation of stochastic volatility (SV)model to the data of Karachi Stock Exchange 100 index during theperiod of January 2007 to December 2011. The Stochastic Volatilitymodel is compared with the GARCH (1,1) model for forecastingvolatility. The stochastic volatility model is basically a parametricapproach to observe volatility that includes two noise terms, tends tocapture volatility better than GARCH (1,1) model. Thus this exercisedemonstrates the capability of stochastic volatility model to forecastvolatility more efficiently for emerging markets such as KS

EVALUATION OF POSSIBLE ANTICONVULSANT EFFECT OF ALSTONIA SCHOLARIS (LINN.) R. BR. EXTRACTS ON EPILEPSY MODELS

Objective: In this study, the effects of ethanolic extract of Alstonia scholaris (EAS) were evaluated on epilepsy models.Methods: Pentylenetetrazole (PTZ), pilocarpine, and maximal electroshock (MES)-induced convulsions in mice were recorded. EAS (100, 200, and300 mg/kg, p.o.) protected of mice against PTZ, pilocarpine, and MES-induced seizures, respectively.Results: In MES-induced seizures, the results revealed that EAS decreased the duration of the tonic hindlimb extension and percent mortality. Inaddition, these doses of EAS increased the latency for the development of convulsions and reduced mortality in mice against PTZ and pilocarpineinducedconvulsions.Conclusion: The ethanolic extract of bark A. scholaris exhibited anticonvulsant potential in various animal models.Keywords: Alstonia scholaris, Pentylenetetrazole, Pilocarpine, Maximal electroshock, Anticonvulsant effect