Notable 19th century American accountants that could be considered for the Accounting Hall-of-Fame

In America, the 19th century marked the beginning of substantial economic changes (development of the vast railroad system, industrialization, and unsatiated demand for capital), providing an environment conducive to the establishment of a new profession, public accountancy. There were many accounting pioneers in the United States who helped the accounting profession develop during this transitional period. Many of the 19th century American accountants are not as well known as their 20th century counterparts, and only two accountants who worked primarily in the 19th century are currently in the Hall of Fame; Charles E. Sprague and Charles Haskins. Until recently, there was a stipulation that prevented 19th century accountants from entering the Accounting Hall of Fame; that is, a person must have contributed to the accounting field since the beginning of the 20th century

Contributions of Joseph Hardcastle to accounting theory

Joseph Hardcastle was one of the foremost authorities on subjects connected with the mathematics of finance and other topics in accounting in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As a teacher, author, and leader in the profession, he figured prominently in the elevation of accountancy. Hardcastle is relatively unknown in the literature except for having the distinction of scoring the highest grades on the first CPA exam in New York in 1896. However, he was well respected during his time as one of the premier theorists in accounting and was awarded an honorary degree of Master of Letters by New York University. Because of his prolific writings, his teaching of future accountants, and his interactions with members of the Institute of Accounts, he had a strong impact on the science of accounts, the dominant accounting theory in the U.S. at the turn of the century

Reading Ability as a Predictor of Student Success in Business School

For several years accounting faculty at a regional university observed that some of their students exhibited difficulty reading. This study of 235 sophomore, junior, and senior business majors enrolled in accounting classes examines the relationship between their reading abilities as measured by the Nelson-Denny Reading Test and their cumulative grade point averages (GPAs). The results indicate that students who have higher levels of reading comprehension and reading vocabulary have higher cumulative GPAs. Furthermore, the results indicate that about 16 percent of the students tested could not read at the first-year college level. This paper describes the testing and recommends that students’ reading abilities be factored into the admission processes

Forgotten accounting association: The Institute of Accounts

This paper focuses on the origin and operation of the Institute of Accountants and Bookkeepers established in New York City in 1882, one of the earliest recorded efforts to establish the accounting profession in the United States. This organization is often overlooked or confused with the American Institute of Accountants (the predecessor of the AICPA), so that little has been written about it. Periodicals published during the late 19th and early 20th centuries were used to reconstruct the history and contribution of this Institute. Its contributions were many, including forming and influencing the passage of the first CPA law, developing tests of fitness for membership 14 years before the first CPA exam, and setting standards for professionalism in the U.S. In addition, the Institute developed a foundation for treating accounting as a science which helped elevate the status of bookkeeping and public accounting during the late 19th century

Using Standardized Student Evaluation Instruments To Measure Teaching Effectiveness In Lecture/Recitation Mode Classes

This paper investigates the variability of student teaching effectiveness survey evaluations among the various recitation sections when lecture/recitation instruction is utilized with the same instructor both delivering the lecture and teaching all of the corresponding recitation sections.  The research results indicate that when an instructor teaches multiple sections using lecture/recitation instruction, then the meaningful measure of the instructor’s teaching is the average of the student ratings for the various recitation sections. This study focuses on the variability of the students’ responses to each item in the survey instrument as measured by its standard deviation

Testing tritium-helium groundwater dating in the Chalk aquifer of the Berkshire Downs, UK

The tritium-helium (3H/3He) dating method has been applied to the Chalk (fractured microporous limestone) aquifer in the UK for the first time. An evaluation of the results from diffusion cell versus pumped tube sampling showed generally good agreement between the two techniques. Measurements of noble gas (Ne, Ar, Kr and Xe) concentrations revealed typically low amounts of excess air in the aquifer, with little variation around a mean of 1.3 ccSTP/kg suggesting the predominance of steady recharge via the microporosity rather than via the fracture network. Chalk boreholes are generally unlined, with discrete inflows from a few fracture-related flow horizons. Despite this, attempts to detect age layering in the water column by suspension of diffusion samplers or by slow-pumping were unsuccessful. However, when shortscreen piezometers were used, better evidence for an age-depth relationship was obtained. Assuming a piston-flow model of water movement, a vertical flow rate of ~3.3 m/yr was indicated. However, a more complex picture of movement was obtained by comparing total 3H activity (including the 3He decay equivalent) against SF6 concentration, which suggested the existence of various modes of mixing. This would be consistent with the high degree of fracturing that exists in the Chalk

Neuroactive steroids in depression and anxiety disorders: Clinical studies

Certain neuroactive steroids modulate ligand-gated ion channels via non-genomic mechanisms. Especially 3 alpha-reduced pregnane steroids are potent positive allosteric modulators of the gamma-aminobutyric acid type A (GABA(A)) receptor. During major depression, there is a disequilibrium of 3 alpha-reduced neuroactive steroids, which is corrected by clinically effective pharmacological treatment. To investigate whether these alterations are a general principle of successful antidepressant treatment, we studied the impact of nonpharmacological treatment options on neuroactive steroid concentrations during major depression. Neither partial sleep deprivation, transcranial magnetic stimulation, nor electroconvulsive therapy affected neuroactive steroid levels irrespectively of the response to these treatments. These studies suggest that the changes in neuroactive steroid concentrations observed after antidepressant pharmacotherapy more likely reflect distinct pharmacological properties of antidepressants rather than the clinical response. In patients with panic disorder, changes in neuroactive steroid composition have been observed opposite to those seen in depression. However, during experimentally induced panic induction either with cholecystokinine-tetrapeptide or sodium lactate, there was a pronounced decline in the concentrations of 3 alpha-reduced neuroactive steroids in patients with panic disorder, which might result in a decreased GABAergic tone. In contrast, no changes in neuroactive steroid concentrations could be observed in healthy controls with the exception of 3 alpha,5 alpha-tetrahydrodeoxycorticosterone. The modulation of GABA(A) receptors by neuroactive steroids might contribute to the pathophysiology of depression and anxiety disorders and might offer new targets for the development of novel anxiolytic compounds. Copyright (c) 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel

Association of the rs738409 polymorphism in PNPLA3 with liver damage and the development of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In a genome-wide association scan, the single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs738409 in the patatin-like phospholipase 3 gene (<it>PNPLA3</it>) was strongly associated with increased liver fat content. We investigated whether this SNP is associated with the occurrence and progression of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in the Japanese population.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>SNP rs738409 was genotyped by the Taqman assay in 253 patients with NAFLD (189 with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis [NASH] and 64 with simple steatosis) and 578 control subjects. All patients with NAFLD underwent liver biopsy. Control subjects had no metabolic disorders. For a case-control study, the <it>χ</it>²-test (additive model) was performed. Odds ratios (ORs) were adjusted for age, gender, and body mass index (BMI) by using multiple logistic regression analysis with genotypes (additive model), age, gender, and BMI as the independent variables. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed to test the independent effect of risk allele on clinical parameters while considering the effects of other variables (age, gender, and BMI), which were assumed to be independent of the effect of the SNP.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The risk allele (G-allele) frequency of rs738409 was 0.44 in the control subjects and 0.60 in patients with NAFLD; this shows a strong association with NAFLD (additive model, <it>P </it>= 9.4 × 10^-10). The OR (95% confidence interval) adjusted for age, gender, and BMI was 1.73 (1.25-2.38). Multiple linear regression analysis indicated that the G-allele of rs738409 was significantly associated with increases in aspartate transaminase (AST) (<it>P </it>= 0.00013), alanine transaminase (ALT) (<it>P </it>= 9.1 × 10^-6), and ferritin levels (<it>P </it>= 0.014), and the fibrosis stage (<it>P </it>= 0.011) in the patients with NAFLD, even after adjustment for age, gender, and BMI. The steatosis grade was not associated with rs738409.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We found that in the Japanese population, individuals harboring the G-allele of rs738409 were susceptible to NAFLD, and that rs738409 was associated with plasma levels of ALT, AST, and ferritin, and the histological fibrosis stage. Our study suggests that <it>PNPLA3 </it>may be involved in the progression of fibrosis in NAFLD.</p

Single hadron response measurement and calorimeter jet energy scale uncertainty with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

The uncertainty on the calorimeter energy response to jets of particles is derived for the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). First, the calorimeter response to single isolated charged hadrons is measured and compared to the Monte Carlo simulation using proton-proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies of sqrt(s) = 900 GeV and 7 TeV collected during 2009 and 2010. Then, using the decay of K_s and Lambda particles, the calorimeter response to specific types of particles (positively and negatively charged pions, protons, and anti-protons) is measured and compared to the Monte Carlo predictions. Finally, the jet energy scale uncertainty is determined by propagating the response uncertainty for single charged and neutral particles to jets. The response uncertainty is 2-5% for central isolated hadrons and 1-3% for the final calorimeter jet energy scale.Comment: 24 pages plus author list (36 pages total), 23 figures, 1 table, submitted to European Physical Journal

Measurement of the production of a W boson in association with a charm quark in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The production of a W boson in association with a single charm quark is studied using 4.6 fb−1 of pp collision data at s√ = 7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. In events in which a W boson decays to an electron or muon, the charm quark is tagged either by its semileptonic decay to a muon or by the presence of a charmed meson. The integrated and differential cross sections as a function of the pseudorapidity of the lepton from the W-boson decay are measured. Results are compared to the predictions of next-to-leading-order QCD calculations obtained from various parton distribution function parameterisations. The ratio of the strange-to-down sea-quark distributions is determined to be 0.96+0.26−0.30 at Q 2 = 1.9 GeV2, which supports the hypothesis of an SU(3)-symmetric composition of the light-quark sea. Additionally, the cross-section ratio σ(W + +c¯¯)/σ(W − + c) is compared to the predictions obtained using parton distribution function parameterisations with different assumptions about the s−s¯¯¯ quark asymmetry