Rhizomatic stories of representational faithfulness, decision making and control

There is a tendency in accounting theory, both external reporting and management accounting, to express a representational ideal. This to be understood in the sense that accounting information, independent on whether it is reported externally or used for control purposes internally, ought to represent something underlying, whether this is revenue, costs, performance or other things inscribed in the accounting information. In some cases the underlying is not an object, but a procedure which is developed with the purpose of standardising the calculations as to become comparable (Financial Accounting Standards Board, 1980a). In the beginning of the 1970’s in the accounting information literature, simultaneously with the foundation of the American Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), an academic discussion regarding which qualitative characteristics accounting information ought to have, emerges (e.g. Ijiri, 1975, Hines, 1988 og Ingram and Rayburn, 1989). This was caused by FASB’s work on a conceptual framework Standard of Financial Accounting Concepts (SFAC), which was meant as a guide to the standard setters in the development of new accounting standards/principles. A new notion, representational faithfulness, was introduced in SFAC no. 2. The discussion about representational faithfulness is equivocal and no unambiguous definition of what representational faithfulness actually is. This has occasioned a range of dialogues about the representativity of accounting information, the accounting setters’ roles and effects of disclosure of accounting information..

COMPETITION OF 19S AND 7S ANTIGEN RECEPTORS IN THE REGULATION OF THE PRIMARY IMMUNE RESPONSE

Prior to sheep red cells (SRC) mice were given 7S or 19S anti-SRC antibodies or mixtures of both. All 7S preparations suppressed the immune response. All 19S preparations enhanced the primary response, as measured by an up to 15-fold increase in the number of PFC per spleen. Results obtained with mixtures showed that 7S and 19S antibodies are competitive in their effect. The kinetics of the appearance of PFC in the mouse spleen after injection of SRC suggest that the depressive effect of 7S antibody simulates a reduction in SRC dose, whereas the enhancing effect of 19S antibody appears as a temporary increase in the rate at which PFC appear. Antibodies from one animal species are quite effective in another species

THE NATURAL-SELECTION THEORY OF ANTIBODY FORMATION

An immense amount of experimental data related to the problem of antibody formation has accumulated. Theories offering a basic interpretation of these observations have, in contrast, been few. The theory formulated in the present paper, though highly speculative, attempts to provide a framework for the interpretation of the main features of antibody appearance in response to the injection of antigen into an animal. Two views concerning the mechanism of antibody formation are at present most widely favored. One is the "antigen-template" theory, developed by Breinl [1], Haurowitz [1,2], Mudd [3], Alexander [4], and Pauling [5]. This theory assumes that antibodies can be produced only by cells in which the antigen is present. The specific affinity of an antibody molecule toward the antigen is due to a complementarity in structure derived from the folding of part of the polypeptide chain of a globulin molecule in direct contact with a determinant or haptenic region of the antigen. The antigen thus serves as a template in the final stage of formation of a globulin molecule. The other view tries to establish a similarity between antibody formation and adaptive enzyme formation and allows for the continued production of antibody after the antigen has disappeared from the body. This is the "modified-enzyme" theory, formulated by Burnet [6,7] and Fenner [7]. They propose that the introduction of an antigen into cells, containing enzymes directed toward the disposal of effete cells and cellular debris from the organism itself, induces the formation of "enzymic units" adapted toward the destruction of the antigen. A renewed contact with the antigen stimulates the replication of these enzymic units. Circulating antibody molecules are partial replicas of the modified enzymic units, carrying specificity but lacking enzymic action. The "natural-selection" theory, proposed in the present paper, may be stated as follows: The role of the antigen is neither that of a template nor that of an enzyme modifier. The antigen is solely a selective carrier of spontaneously circulating antibody to a system of cells which can reproduce this antibody. Globulin molecules are continuously being synthesized in an enormous variety of different configurations. Among the population of circulating globulin molecules there will, spontaneously, be fractions possessing affinity toward any antigen to which the animal can respond. These are the so-called "natural" antibodies. The introduction of an antigen into the blood or into the lymph leads to the selective attachment to the antigen surface of those globulin molecules which happen to have a complementary configuration. The antigen carrying these molecules may then be engulfed by a phagocytic cell. When the globulin molecules thus brought into a cell have been dissociated from the surface of the antigen, the antigen has accomplished its role and can be eliminated

THE DISTRIBUTION OF PARENTAL PHOSPHORUS ATOMS AMONG BACTERIOPHAGE PROGENY

Approximately half the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) contained in a population of T2, T4, or T6 bacteriophage particles reappears among the descendants ultimately issuing from phage-infected bacterial host cells. [1,2] This transfer is not due to the reincarnation of entire, intact parental DNA units in progeny guise, since at least half the DNA of each of those descendant particles which harbor the transferred atoms must be of nonparental origin. [3] For an understanding of the mechanisms involved in the reproduction of the hereditary structures of the bacteriophage, it is desirable to know the distribution of the parental atoms among the progeny population, i.e., the extent to which the atomic identity of the parental DNA has been conserved or destroyed. It is the purpose of this communication to present the results of experiments which indicate that most of the transferred phosphorus atoms of the parental DNA are distributed over at least 8 but no more than 25 of the progeny. A more detailed description of these results will be presented elsewhere. The basis of these experiments is that the bacteriophages lose their infectivity upon decay of radiophosphorus P32 incorporated in their DNA, the rate of inactivation being proportional to the number of P32 atoms per particle. [3] The fraction of P32 disintegrations which inactivate the T2 or T4 particles in which they occur is 0.10 at 40 C., this "efficiency of killing" having been established for "nonparental" radiophosphorus atoms, i.e., for those assimilated into the phage DNA from the phosphorylated constituents of host cell or growth medium. [3,4] Since neither the transferred phosphorus atoms nor those whose decay leads to inactivation appear to reside in any "special fraction" of the bacteriophage DNA, [4,5] it would seem reasonable that the decay of transferred P32 atoms should similarly inactivate the progeny particles harboring them. We have adopted this at present unprovable assumption and have endeavored to detect the presence of parental P32 atoms in the descendant phages by observing the lethal effects of the decay of these atoms on the progeny population

Last week we reviewed the 1984 Nobel laureates in medicine: immunologists

prizewinners in physics and chemistry are discussed. The 1984 physics prize was shared b