Accounting Research Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Accounting Research Project - Essay Example In simple terms, start up costs can be defined as the costs that a business organization incurs when starting up a new operation and in preparation for the operation. â€Å"The definition of start-up activities is based on the nature of the activities and not the time period in which they occur. Start-up activities include activities related to organizing a new entity (commonly referred to as organization costs)† (FASB, 2014a). Once a business has been set up, it can be able to generate revenue to sustain its own expenses. However, prior to this, there has to be expenses which are incurred. Start up costs can be divided into two categories namely revenue expenditure and capital expenditure. There has been debate regarding how which each of the costs should be treated. Revenue expenditure is the kind of expenses that do not contribute to additional of the business stock. It also does not have any contribution towards the acquisition of assets that can be used by the business for a long period of time (FASB, 2014a). On the other hand, capital expenditure refers to the expenses that the business incurs in acquiring an asset that can be used to generate income for a long period of time. The expenses of capital assets is therefore spread over many time periods as the assets acquired are used for many years. The costs that Costanza and Son has incurred so far as per the case are revenue expenditure. The company has included legal fees and advertising costs as capital start up costs. These costs do not contribute to the acquisition of any long term asset for the organization. Therefore, these costs should be categorized as revenue costs. They should be accounted for as expenses for the period which they have been incurred. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) requires that start up costs be expensed as they are incurred. This means that the costs should be accounted for during the period in which they have been incurred. This is

Capital Markets and Investment Banking Process Essay

Capital Markets and Investment Banking Process - Essay Example Investment banks usually perform three tasks: first, they assist the companies in designing the securities which have features that are most appropriate for a certain market; second, they buy these securities and third, they resell them to the investors. (Fabozzi, 2008) Investment banks raise capital for their client companies through underwriting in which it purchases a whole block of new securities and resells them to investors. In this way, the income earned is the difference of the amount given to purchase the new block of shares and the amount received by the investors. Apart from Merger & Acquisition (M&A) advisory services, a bank’s another integral and core function nowadays is Investment Management in which the bank manages the investments of clients. Security services are also an important feature for investment banks which include prime brokerage, financing and securities lending. Regardless of the activity undertaken by the investment bank, it needs to focus on its portfolio construction and management which will be done according to the portfolio strategy of the investment bank. This means the bank needs to make investments which ensure successful trading that could be done by making risk management a top priority. This would mean that if a company incurs a loss of on one of its investment, it should earn a profit of over 11% on another to make it even. In this way, the company needs to construct a portfolio of investments which ensures a favorable position for the company. (Fabozzi, 2008) Factors to Be Considered Selecting Asset Classes For An Investment Portfolio: Asset class means the different kinds of assets (e.g. bonds, equities and cash equivalents etc.), while making an investment portfolio, different classes of assets are added according to investment policies and objectives. For making an investment portfolio, it is generally considered that a well diversified portfolio is beneficial as it outweighs the losses through other profita ble investments. On deciding upon the asset classes, the companies need to consider asset allocation among different classes of assets. Studies show that 85 to 95% of investment’s returns are due to asset allocation policy and not selection of specific stocks or bonds. While selecting classes of assets, major considerations should be given to the capital market expectations as to which classes of assets are expected to outperform others in short, medium or long term. For example, if the stock market is expected to be weak, there should be more bonds in the portfolio. Other factors that need to be considered while deciding upon the asset allocation are the objectives of investment which would consider the timings, the need of the investment and the expected return of the investment by the client. Risk tolerance and risk policies need to be given special consideration in deciding upon the allocation of assets that should be in accordance to the bank and clients. Constraints ass ociated with asset classes like liquidity, taxes, regulations etc and capital market assumptions are also few factors that should be considered. (Chandra, 2009) Describe the Capital Market Instruments Used in Investment Portfolio Construction: The capital market is vital for a country as it matches the players who have excess funds with the ones who are in need of funds. The instruments are traded in these markets incurring a gain/loss on these securities.

The ghost of Christmas Essay Example for Free

The ghost of Christmas Essay Scrooge! A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching covetous old sinner! Hard and sharp as a flint , from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire ; secret and self contained , and solitary as an oyster Charles Dickens coveys his moral message in a christmas carol by raising awareness of the poor and peoples perceptions of the poor in the Victorian times. Most of his literary works concerned the poor and how they lived. Another of his famous novels was Oliver Twist about an orphaned boy. He wrote about this issue because he had experienced abject poverty himself. When he was only nine, his father, mother, and his seven brothers and sisters were sent to debtors prison. This left Dickens out in the cold as a child labourer. After his family were released, Charles Dickens was fortunate enough to go back into education and became a law clerk. He then wrote these novels to describe the desperate poverty in society and raise peoples awareness. Throughout his life, Charles Dickens was a philanthropist, doing many good deeds for his community. He was going to bring the poverty issue to the attention of his readers by producing a campaign leaflet but then realised that more people could relate to a story and more people would read what he has to say. A christmas carol is an allegory. He is saying that people, who live a greedy senseless life, will suffer themselves in the future. If we live our life doing good deeds and generally getting into the spirit of seasons then we will be rewarded in life and the after life. The main character in a christmas carol is Scrooge. At the start of the story, he is described as a covetous old sinner and his famous words bah, humbug! describes his opinion of Christmas. In his school days, he was very serious and was more interested in his education than Christmas. Later in his life he had a fianci e and he used to enjoy the festivities. Money then took over his life and he has rejected everyone ever since and because of this, even though he is financially richer, his life is much poorer. Scrooge, throughout the story, is visited by three ghosts. One of the christmas past , one of the christmas present and one of the christmas yet to come. The ghost of the Christmas past represents his memory and makes Scrooge reminisce about his life as a child and what Christmas was like for him then. The school is not quite deserted, a solitary child, neglected by his friends, is left there still This child, of course is Scrooge. He cared more about his education than Christmas. His friends, if he had any, had left him to look a sad sight on his own. This image made Scrooge think about what he had missed out on in his childhood. He had rejected the opportunity for fun or any friends and he felt bad about it. Even having thinking this through, he still needed more evidence for him to change his frame of mind. The next ghost to visit the misguided Scrooge was the ghost of the Christmas present. This ghost represented charity and showed Scrooge how giving to other people can be a fun part of Christmas. He took Scrooge to various parties which included his old employers party, Fezziwig, his nephews party, Fred , and the Christmas dinner of Bob Cratchit and his family, who, in the sense of that time, were very poor because of the ridiculous wages given by Scrooge in his office. At his nephews party, they were playing a game of yes and no where they ridiculed Scrooge; the brisk fire of questioning to which Fred was exposed, elicited from him that he was thinking of and animal, a live animal, rather a disagreeable animal, a savage animal, an animal that growled and grunted sometimes and talked sometimes.. What is it? Cried Fred. Its your Uncle Scrooge!!!!! This made Scrooge feel very upset inside that his nephew thought of him this way. At Bob Cratchits house, Bob proposed a toast to Scrooge and his wife was very reluctant to do it. He also saw Tiny Tim, Bob Cratchits son, who was very ill and as the family was so poor, they could not afford to help him. This also made Scrooge hurt inside and for the first time, Scrooge decided to change his ways. The ghost of Christmas present shows Scrooge how to celebrate Christmas , but he still needed a small amount of help, and thats where the ghost of Christmas yet to come came in. The ghost of Christmas future was in the shape of the grim reaper and the ghost that Scrooge feared the most. He represents death and Scrooges fear of it. He shows Scrooge what impact his death has on the community. They are celebrating. This scares Scrooge as he didnt realise how much people hated him. Spirit, he said, this is a fearful place. In leaving it, I shall not leave its lesson trust me, let us go! Undoubtedly, the turning point for Scrooge though, was when he saw the empty chair and crutch that was once Tiny Tims. The Cratchits could not afford to help him so they were mourning him. This brought tears to Scrooges eyes. He knew that he could do something to help. What of Tiny Tim? The ghost doesnt reply.

The Hohfeldian Analysis Of Rights Philosophy Essay

The Hohfeldian Analysis Of Rights Philosophy Essay The concept of analyzing legal rights in a broader sense was given by Professor Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld. Professor Hohfeld was born in 1879. He graduated in 1901 from the University of California and moved to Harvard Law School. There, he served in the capacity of editor of Harvard Law Review and graduated with honors in 1904. Professor Hohfeld then taught from 1905-1913 at Stanford Law School. Later in his career, he shifted to Yale Law School. He taught at the prestigious law school until his demise in 1918  [1]  . Professor Hohfeld has contributed significantly to the field of Jurisprudence. He attempted to simplify the term right by creating an analysis that separates various core concepts in law. These core concepts were then shown to be inter-related and a framework of such relationships was construed. The analysis of the connectivity in relationships can shed light on implications of policy and decision making. Thus, his work has permitted the deconstruction of legal principles into individual elements  [2]  . Professor Hohfeld has propounded that the different meanings of the term right are often conflated in a single sentence. In any given sentence, the usage is switched several times. This lack of precision in the language subsequently indicates a lack of precision in thought and the conclusions that are derived in turn. His efforts to facilitate reasoning led him to break the meaning of rights into eight unique concepts. These terms are defined with respect to one another to eliminate the presence of any ambiguity. Four pairs of opposites and correlatives are said to exist as illustrated below  [3]  . Jural Opposites comprise of the following: 1. Right/No-Right 2. Privilege/Duty 3. Power/Disability 4. Immunity/Liability Jural Correlatives are mainly constituted by: 1. Right/Duty 2. Privilege/No-Right 3. Power/Liability 4. Immunity/Disability RIGHTS AND DUTIES What is a right? A right can be defined as an interest recognized, protected and enforced by law. Justice Strong has held The word right is defined by lexicographers to donate, among other things, property, interest, power, prerogative, immunity, privilege (Walkers Dict. word Right). In law it is most frequently applied to property in its restricted sense, but it is often used to designate power, prerogative, and privilege,  [4]   Justice Jackson  [5]  further states The words right or privilege have, of course, a variety of meanings, according to the connection or context in which they are used. Their definition, are given by standard lexicographers, include that which one has a legal claim to do, legal power, authority, immunity granted by authority, the investiture with special or peculiar rights. A man has several rights over both tangible as well as intangible objects. He also possesses rights as a person such as the right to enjoy a certain reputation, the right to not be assaulted or injured, rights in a domestic environment and rights that are related to other rights e.g. contractual rights. Certain other rights of a contractual nature may also exist such as those rendered for service e.g. master and servant, doctor and patient. Rights over intangible objects would include copyrights, patents, trademarks etc. Thus, rights can be considered as advantages or benefits that are conferred by law  [6]  . Rights can be divided into 4 different kinds: Rights in the strict sense Liberties Powers Immunities The correlatives of each of these rights are illustrated below: Duties No-Rights Liabilities Disabilities Each and every right has a corresponding duty. Duty may be defined as an internal feeling of an obligation towards someone. A duty or a legal obligation is that which one ought or ought not to do. Duty and right are correlative terms. When a right is invaded, a duty is violated.  [7]  Rights and duties are like 2 sides of a coin and always go hand in hand. Thus, right and duty are correlative. This implies that if X enjoys a right against Y, then Y is duty bound to respect this right. Rights in the strict sense can therefore, be held to be benefits, which are derived from duties imposed upon others  [8]  . Several different kinds of rights exist. These are elucidated below. The first classification is that of perfect rights and perfect duties. Rights which go along with perfect duties are known as perfect rights and perfect duties are those which not only possess legal recognition but are also, strictly enforceable. Thus, a breach would constitute some action or prosecution and the State may use reasonable force if necessary  [9]  . However, both rights and duties fall short of this perfect system  [10]  . Some examples of imperfect legal rights would include time barred claims, claims that cannot be enforced due to lack of proof, certain claims against states etc. While in all these cases, there is no cause of action yet legal recognition still exists. The principle of ubi jus ibi remedium which means where there is a right, there is a remedy, serves an exception to imperfect rights  [11]  . The second category is that of positive and negative rights. The correlative of these rights are positive and negative duties and acts performed by those in whom the duty vests determine the nature of the right. A positive act relates to a positive right whereas any abstinence from it would constitute a negative right  [12]  . A third distinction is made between rights in rem and rights in personam. Both these terms have been derived from civil law  [13]  . A right in rem is a right that exists against the entire world whereas a right in personam is against a specific individual. The right to spend my money from my wallet is a right in rem but the right to recover it from a debtor is a right in personam. Similarly, the right to exclusive enjoyment of my apartment is a right in rem whereas upon the lease of the same apartment, only a right in personam would exist against the leasee. Rights in rem are considered as negative rights whereas rights in personam are usually positive in nature  [14]  . Rights in personam are predominantly derived from the existence of personal relations whereas rights in rem offer a relation between the owner and a plethora of individuals. Thus, rights in personam are held to be paucital rights and rights in rem are multital rights. A contractual right is a paucital right as it is specifically enforceable only between the parties entering into a contract. A property right, on the other hand, is a multital right as the person has a right to exclude any and every individual. In essence, it can be said that multital rights are constituted by several, separate yet identical paucital rights  [15]  . Proprietary and personal rights form the fourth category. The former is concerned with value while the latter is not. Value, in the case of proprietary rights, is derived from assets, estate, property and so forth. Rights, therefore, which are proprietary in nature deal with monetary or economic value. On the contrary, personal rights are associated with status, reputation and welfare  [16]  . Right of not being inflicted with harm and rights in respect of domestic relationships can be called as personal rights  [17]  . Rights are also divided into jura in re propria and jura in re aliena. A right in re aliena, also termed as an encumbrance, is one which detracts from another in reference to a subject. Thus, the right is limited in its ambit with respect to the superior right. For instance, a landlords right to use the property temporarily may be restricted by a tenant. The 4 main classes that constitute jura in re aliena are servitudes, trusts, securities and leases. All other rights fall in the domain of jura in re propria  [18]  . A property owner has a jus in re propria i.e. a right over the property owned while a pledgee possesses a jus in re aliena i.e. a right over another persons property. A right is known as servient when it is subject to an encumbrance whereas the encumbrance derived is called dominant  [19]  . By subletting a property, the sublessee is conferred with a jus in re aliena by the tenant. Thus, the right of the tenant is servient with respect to the sublessee but dominant as against the landlord  [20]  . Servient and dominant rights are concomitant and may vary in their degree of coexistence. Leases, mortgages and easements are examples of the same. An opposite relationship is observed in the case of principal and accessory rights  [21]  . LIBERTY AND NO-RIGHTS Liberty is defined as the exercise of a right without the interference of law. To say that A has liberty means that A can do all that pleases because there exists no duty to refrain and at the same time, no one else can prohibit X from exercising liberty. There exists a relationship between all individuals that is woven together and held in a matrix. By collectively adding all the rights and duties across relationships, the extent and degree of liberty can be determined. The classic example of perfect liberty is one where no one has any exclusive right to prevent the occurrence of a given act  [22]  . Legal liberty encompasses a sphere within which the law leaves the individual alone. Liberty, however, does not mean interference with another e.g. liberty to voice opinion on public affairs does not grant a person the right to publish defamation. Similarly, one has the liberty to self-defense against violence but no right is conferred to engage in revenge against someone who has caused the injury. A man has a perfect right to fire off a gun, means, apparently, that a man has a freedom or liberty to fire of a gun, so long as he does not violate or infringe anyones rights in doing so, which is very different thing from a right, the violation or disturbance of which can be remedied or prevented by legal process.  [23]   In Quinn v. Leatham  [24]  , Lord Lindley has stated The plaintiff had the ordinary rights of the British subject. He was at liberty to earn his living in his own way, provided he did not violate some law prohibiting him from so doing, and provided he did not infringe the rights of other people. This liberty involved the liberty to deal with other persons who were willing to deal with him. This liberty is a right recognised by law; its correlative is the general duty of every one not to prevent the free exercise of this liberty or right to deal with others is nugatory unless they are at liberty to deal with him if they choose to do so. Any interference with their liberty to deal with him affects him. Liberty is therefore, the exercise of unrestrained activity permitted under law. The primary difference between liberty and rights in strict sense is that things I may do for myself are classified as liberty whereas things which others ought to do in my respect are classified as rights in strict sense  [25]  . Legal liberty is considered as a legal right where any interference by other persons is not justified. During the expression of ones opinions, it can be stated that other persons are legally duty bound not to curtail them. However, there exist liberties which do not enjoy the company of rights of a protective nature. Thus, a landowner, who gives a license to trespass his property, can exercise an equal right to prevent the usage of his property as much as the liberty conferred by the license granted by him. The license basically serves the purpose of making an unlawful act lawful. In Clifford v. ONeill  [26]  , the Court held A license is merely a permission to do an act which, without such permission, would amount to a trespassà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦nor will the continuous enjoyment of the privilege conferred, for any period of time cause it to ripen into a tangible interest in the land affected. Similarly, a trustee has the liberty to ask for compensation from the estates beneficiaries for administration purposes. But the beneficiaries are under no duty or obligation to provide him with the same. Yet another example is that a foreigner has the liberty to enter any country of his choice but the government can exercise an equal right to prevent the individual from entering. Thus, rights when classified as liberties aid in elucidating the meaning of law  [27]  . No-right is the correlative of liberty and consequently, of no duty. It is actually a word that has been coined indicating the absence of a right. The term no-right basically implies that a certain person does not have a right against another individual in a particular respect. The evolution of this term is said to have taken place in a negative context. So, if X has the liberty to undertake a particular act, it means that Y has no-right to say that the act will not be done e.g. a trespasser has no-right to be removed with force suggesting that the occupier has complete liberty of ejection  [28]  . Another example that can be considered in the same light is that of an alien who has no duty not to enter a foreign country i.e. he has liberty to enter. By the same token, the authorities have a no-right against him i.e. they may not have any right in the strict sense though they may still possess a liberty to refrain him from entering. Cases in tort that are principally of Damnum Sine Injuria in nature i.e. incurrence of some damage without the violation of a legal right are entirely no-right situations  [29]  . POWERS AND LIABILITIES Yet another classification of legal rights can be seen in the form of powers. Several examples of powers exist. A few to name are the power to make a will, the power to sell a property if the mortgagee does not receive back the mortgage money from the mortgagor, the right of re-entry that is possessed by a landlord, the power to revoke a contract for fraud, the power to take legal action against someone, the power to punish and arraign, the power to appoint officials for fulfilling functions, the right to issue an execution in respect of a certain judgement and other such powers vested in the judiciary to meet the ends of justice  [30]  . Powers constitute interests that are legally recognized. If one possesses power, one possesses the ability to change by ones own will, the liabilities, duties, rights and any other relations of oneself or with respect to other individuals  [31]  . Powers owe some resemblance to liberties although they differ in the aspect that the act so performed need not be innocent. The power to create a will does not imply that no wrong is done in the process. It does not mean that a will is made innocently, it simply implies that a right to create an effective will subsists. In a similar light, if a landlord possesses the right to re-enter his property, it does not mean that no wrong is committed but if such an act is committed, it does imply that the lease is effectively terminated  [32]  . Powers and rights in the strict sense can also be differentiated. In the latter case, a corresponding duty always coexists whereas this is absent in the former case. An example of the same is that the right to create a will does not result in a corresponding obligation for someone else. Similarly, one can see that the power to sell the mortgagors property by a mortgagee does not create an obligation on the mortgagor to pay back the mortgage money. It does, however, confer the right on the mortgagee to receive back the sum given as a debt to the mortgagor. A debt and an action to recover money fall under two different categories. While the first case can be classified as a right in the strict sense which would correspond to a duty to repay, the latter is an example of a power given by law that imposes a liability and consequently, results in the institution of legal proceedings  [33]  . Powers can be classified based on the domains in which they are exercised. Hence, powers can be categorized as either private or public. Private powers are exercised by individuals with respect to themselves. Public powers, on the other hand, lie with state agencies or instruments that carry out public functions. Examples include powers exercised by the judiciary, legislature and executive  [34]  . Power helps to determine legal relations and thus, gives rise to either authority or capacity. The term authority is defined as the exertion of power over others whereas capacity is defined as the power exerted over oneself  [35]  . Liability of an individual arises when power is vested in another. It can broadly be defined as the alteration of a persons legal rights by the person who exercises power. A few examples that illustrate this concept are the determination of a lease by reentry of the landlord that places a liability on the tenant, liability of a disloyal partner to seek divorce, one against whom a judgement has been passed is liable to have a decree of execution issued and the liability of a mortgagor that arises from the sale of the property by a mortgagee in the event of non-payment of the loan advanced  [36]  . Liability is unconcerned with the fruitful or unfruitful result in any given case. It is inherent in nature and bears no relation with any duty to pay compensation. For instance, a person committing a tort is duty bound to pay compensation and is liable for an action to be brought against him/her as well. However, someone who is not a tortfeasor is not under any duty to pay compensation but is equally liable for an action to be instituted, that in all probability will fail, as no grounds exist. Similarly, a statute in Virginia provided that all free white male persons who are twenty-one years of age and not over sixty, shall be liable to serve as jurors except as hereinafter provided.  [37]  This enactment resulted in the imposition of a liability and not a duty. Liability is said to be harmonious in nature with no-right. If a tenants goods are seized for non-payment of rent, he has no-right not to allow his supplies to be handled by the landlord and at the same time, the liability to secure and sell the merchandise against his pleasure also remains in effect  [38]  . Liability can also be seen as an advantage or benefit. A person who professes to transfer his property as a gift through the exercise of power, the person entitled to the gift has a liability to receive it. While referring to a gift causa mortis and the liability of the donee to have his gift revoked, Justice Smith has said: The title to the gift causa mortis passed by the delivery, defeasible only in the lifetime of the donor, and his death perfects the title in the donee by terminating the donors right of power of defeasance. The property passes from the donor to the donee directlyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦and after his death it is liable to be divested only in favor of the donors creditorsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.His right and power ceased with his death.  [39]   IMMUNITIES AND DISABILITIES Another category of rights is immunity from legal power. Immunity grants an exception to change any legal relations. The right of an individual to be tried by members of society of equal standing creates an exclusion from being tried by a jury. The relationship between immunity and power is identical to that of liberty and right in the strict sense. Immunity implies a complete lack of liability  [40]  . Cases of immunity from taxation are well documented in the U.S. In Phoenix Ins. v. Tennessee  [41]  , Justice Peekham stated the following: In granting to the De Soto Company all the right, privileges, and immunities of the Bluff City Company, all words are used which could be regarded as necessary to carry the exemption from taxation possessed by the Bluff City Company; while in the next following grant, that of the character of the plaintiff in error, the word immunity is omitted. Is there any meaning to be attached to that omission, and if so, what? We think some meaning is to be attached to it. The word immunity express more clearly and definitely an intention to include therein an exemption from taxation than does either of the other words. Exemption from taxation is more accurately described as an immunity than as a privilege, although it is not be denied that the latter word may sometimes and under some circumstances include such exemptions. Disability, the correlative of immunity, is better known as inability and signifies the absence of power. The legal maxim Nemo dat quod non habet which means that no person can transfer a better title in property than what is possessed by oneself, is an expression of disability  [42]  . SUMMARY In conclusion, 4 independent, unique and distinct classes of rights are guaranteed by law. These are rights in the strict sense, where law restricts others in my respect; liberty, which permits a reasonable degree of freedom to pursue uninterrupted and unrestrained activity; power, that gives a right to execute an action effectively and immunity, which creates an exemption from being subjected to a power. A right in the strict sense imposes a duty on others, a liberty allows an action to be performed innocently, a power confers the right to accomplish effectively and an immunity denies others the right to exercise power effectively in my respect  [43]  . Correlatives are related vertically and read as is the presence of in another. Thus, duty is the presence of right in another and power is the presence of liability in another. Diagonal relationships indicate jural contradictories and are read as is the absence of in oneself. Thus, liberty is the absence of duty in oneself and immunity is the absence of liability in oneself. The contradictions of jural correlatives are connected by horizontal arrows and can be read either way as is the absence of in another. Thus, no-right is the absence of duty in another and disability is the absence of liability in another  [44]  .

IQ and the Controversy Concerning Human Intelligence :: Biology Essays Research Papers

IQ and the Controversy Concerning Human Intelligence Human intelligence is an eel-like subject: slippery, difficult to grasp, and almost impossible to get straight [3]. Many scientist and psychologist have made numerous attempts to come up with an explanation for the development of human intelligence. For many years, there has been much controversy over what intelligence is and whether it is hereditary or nurtured by the environment. Webster's dictionary defines intelligence as "the ability to acquire and apply knowledge; which includes a sensing an environment and reaching conclusions about the state of that environment [7]. In this paper I am going to examine the factors, which make up ones intelligence. I will be investigating whether or not intelligence is fostered by genetic heritance or nurtured by ones environment. "There can be of course no serious doubt that differences in environment experiences do contribute to variation in IQ [5]. The environment is made of circumstances, objects, and conditions by which a human, animal, plant or object are surrounded in science. It has been argued that the environment in a child's developing years could in fact be a factor that will determine this IQ. In a study of adoptive and biologically related familys psychologist Scarr and Weinberg recognized that with children between 16 and 22 years of age, environment was more powerful in influencing IQ level in the young child, than the young adult. Scarr and Weinberg reasoned that "environment exerts a greater influence on children, who have little choice; as they age, diversity age, diversity and availability of choices expands, and if these choices are at least partially determined by genetic factors, the influence of environment is there by diminished. Heritability is a term from the population of genetics. It refers to"the capability of being passed from one generation to the next [1]. Intelligence has for centuries been considered as fixed trait. A number of investigators have taken an approach that intelligence is highly heritable, transmitted through genes [3]. Kinship studies have shown that the habitability of IQ is significantly less than 1.0, and recent attempts to model kinship correlation especially in children have agreed that IQ is influenced both by the child's parent and the environment. Other factors such as parental affection, birth order, gender differences, and experiences outside the family, accidents, and illnesses may account for IQ. Writer of Hereditary Genius, Francis Galton developed a theory know as the "genius theory.

Political Stability and the History of Weather in Brazil Essay

The political stability of Brazil has always relied heavily on the abundance of natural resources to be found in the Amazon rainforest, and has been severely tested in eras of colonization, periods of boom-and-bust, world wars, and civil wars. Populations migrated from Asia to the Americas when sea levels were lowered by 100 meters due to the expanding glaciers and ice sheets of the last ice age, and dry land linked Alaska to Siberia (Lamb 112). One group, the Incans, settled along the Andes. Since the only beast of burden, the llama, was too small to carry a man, they lived mostly sedentary lives. They also stratified their populations on the sides of the Andes to take advantage of the different capacities of the land (growing cotton at sea level, maize on the piedmont, and potatoes in the highlands). For people living in the Amazon basin, the climate induced them to be even less materialistic. Belongings left in a thatch-and-pole hut by semi-nomadic people would be destroyed through a combination of humidity and insects by the time the roamers returned to the settlement (Place 22). The Indians also developed a social structure in which each individual Indian would be responsible for possessing mentally all the necessary information for making a living in a tropical rainforest: hunting practices, habits of particular game animals, rituals, food manufacture, and crop varieties (Roosevelt 23). After the arrival of the Europeans, indigenous peoples died from new diseases like smallpox, measles, and typhus in what was eventually called the â€Å"largest demographic collapse in history† (Webb). While the indigenous populations were struggling to survive, European colonizers were moving in with horses, dogs, cattle, chickens, and slav... ...ssed 20 November 2004. Place, Susan E., ed. Tropical Rainforests: Latin American Nature and Society in Transition. Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources, 1993. Roosevelt, Anna. Amazonian Indians from Prehistory to the Present: Anthropological Perspectives. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1994. â€Å"Rubber: War.† Pulse of the Planet. National Science Foundation. Program #2233, September 2000. http://www.pulseplanet.com/archive/Sep00/2233.html. Accessed 20 November 2004. â€Å"Rubber: Boom.† Pulse of the Planet. National Science Foundation. Program #2232, September 2000. http://www.pulseplanet.com/archive/Sep00/2232.html. Accessed 20 November 2004. Steffen, Alex. â€Å"Fome Zero.† WorldChanging: Another World is Here. 4 December 2003. http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/000168.html. Accessed 20 November 2004. Webb, James. Lecture. Colby College. 7 March 2004.

Creating a Student Portal for Bataan Peninsula State University Essay

The project is to create a Student Portal for Bataan Peninsula State University. Its purpose is to raise the availability of certain students’ records like the grades, finances/billing, and curriculum checklist. Along with, is the process of encoding students’ final grades and the forming of the dean’s list. Using the student portal, data can be accessible at any time and location over the Internet. Background of the Study The Bataan Peninsula State University was established by virtue of Republic Act 9403, signed into law on 22nd of March 2007. It is a conglomeration of fine leading higher education institutions in Bataan seeking  to contribute to the national and regional development through providing excellent quality of services in instruction, research, production and extension. Guided by one Vision of becoming a university of excellence acknowledged not only in the country but also in the Asia-Pacific Region, BPSU shall continue to gear toward the realization of its mission of providing quality and relevant education in order to contribute to the national and regional development. Before the conversion, BPSU used to have three campuses; two are located in the City of Balanga while the third is situated in Orani. The passage  of RA 9403 resulted to the expansion of BPSU’s campuses as the said Act duly integrated the Bataan State College in Dinalupihan and its satellite campus in Abucay (formerly Bataan National Agricultural School). The five campuses of the university have very humble beginnings and yet they all emerged with glorious histories to be proud of. More empowerment is expected to be bestowed to each campus as their strengths shall be utilized for the success of the 111 programs and other services of the university. On June 2008, the University made education more accessible to the residents of the towns of  Bagac and Morong by establishing an extension in the Municipality of Bagac. The extension offers some of the most in demand courses in the country like BS Entrepreneurship, BS Hotel and Restaurant Management, first two years of Nursing, and General Engineering courses. Contributing to national development has always been the topmost priority of the university; therefore BPSU relentlessly keeps itself updated on the recent trends to be responsive to the present and future demands of the community. At present university has three programs granted with Level 1 Accreditation from AACCUP. Fifty-six (56) programs are scheduled for accreditation from 2008 to 2012. Moreover, the university continues to equip itself with faculty and employees who have remarkable skills and knowledge in order to uphold academic excellence and maintain its capacity of producing quality graduates. At present, 6 percent of its faculty have Doctorate degrees and 31 percent have master’s degrees. The rest are still working on their post-baccalaureate studies. It is not surprising that the enrollment continues to increase over the years as the university has proven its capability to match and even to surpass  the performance of other reputable universities in the country in various competitions and also in the licensure exams. Other than this, low tuition fee rates, and pollution-free and safe environment further encourage the Bataenos and those from other nearby provinces to patronize BPSU. For BPSU, a life without challenges to conquer would be futile as the university always stretches the limit to adapt to the changes and to turn trials into opportunities. Even cuts in the budget will not impede BPSU from attaining its goals. Aside from relying on its several IGPs to augment the  budget and sustain its programs, the university continues to strengthen and to establish partnerships with local and international agencies that are more than willing to work side by side BPSU as it continues its journey towards a more dignified future. [bpsu. edu. ph] Every educational institution has its sole priority to give the best learning out from their best performances of teachings, processes and resources to their students. And, BPSU which is one of these institutions had already proven that they can absolutely give it. In the University’s actual operation, there are lots of offices and  departments that are responsible on producing, maintaining and keeping every student’s records. Two of these are the Registrar’s department and the Finance’s department. Along the Registrar’s department is where the student’s documents are piled. Student’s documents consisting of personal data and academic information from their previous schools and from BPSU itself which are produced due to the span of years of the student’s admission in the University, for instance, are the grades. Another department mentioned is the Finance’s department; this also conducts one of the main tasks required for tracking the admission of the  student every school year. That task is to keep files with regards to all of their finances, including all of the payments that are made, balances and other financial issues. These certain information of a student can also be found in the enrollment system that was used by the Registrar’s Office, it is how the Registrar has the authority to view the financial status of a student. Students must know every transaction that was made in the University especially when it has to do with their own concerns. They must always be informed of all the latest records that were kept and reported to  the offices responsible for their stay-in within the institution. On the registrar’s part, a student is not allowed to have an update or a look within their record every time they desired. Considering that the registrar is also busy for other major works assigned to him. Seemingly, it will just consume time and effort for finding a particular record in their repositories. A student can only be given the opportunity, which depends on the situation. Naturally, grades were available every end of the semester in a printed form, though, some of the instructors are considerate in informing a student of the grades as often as possible. While on the finance office part, the records kept are confidential. In order for a student to be informed of the balances remaining on their account, the student should ask the finance officer. But it’s not that simple, as the officer is not free to answer every student’s questions or uncertainties at anytime. At some point in a semester, the finance’s department issues the statement of account of each student that still has remaining balances that must be paid in order to be given a permit that is a requirement before taking an examination On pondering on these unwanted situations experienced by the  students, the thought of having a medium that will grant access to student’s account as often as they want sprung up. The medium is what we called a Students’ Portal. A portal or a web portal, also known as a links page, presents information from diverse sources in a unified way. Apart from the standard search engine feature, web portals offer other services such as e-mail, news, stock prices, information, databases and entertainment. Portals provide a way for enterprises to provide a consistent look and feel with access control and procedures for multiple applications and databases, which  otherwise would have been different entities altogether. Some related studies are researched and included on the documentation for further comprehension of the proposed system. †¢Orani Water District Intranet Based Public Information Kiosk This thesis is made by the IPiK Group, BSIT students of Colegio de San Juan de Letran – Bataan that aims to create an integrated public access information system to be used by employees and visitors of Orani Water District that will improve the current process of dissemination of information. Also, the developers target the replacement of old bulletin boards with digital ones. All the information contained and posted on a bulletin board will be encoded and displayed in a public access computer, with a web-based interface to access the information. The public access computer will be implemented in a client-server environment. A domain controller will be used to apply access control and policies to the public access computer. The officer-in-charge only has to encode the information on the system rather than printing it and then posting it on the bulletin board. The system will only be updated by an administrator. The company’s system administrator will handle the updates and backups. The backups will be made using MS SQL Server 2005’s automatic backup service. The backup files will be stored on a backup DVD-ROM. The system will not be available online, only through the intranet. It will be available only from 8 AM to 5 PM. The proposed system named as Letran-Abucay Students’ Portal has the same objective with the IPik Group thesis that is to render information for the users. The main users of the Orani Water District Intranet-based Public Information Kiosk are the customers, while for the Students’ Portal are apparently the students. What will be the difference of the two is that the  Students’ Portal will be a web-based application and is accessible using a web browser which is opposed to the public information kiosk that is a window-based application. †¢Bataan Information System This thesis is made by the STI-Bataan students under the advisory of Ms. Cristina de Leon, who is now a Letran IT Professor. It is about the designing and developing of a Bataan Information System in a multimedia form and to solve the problems encountered by the provincial government in promoting Bataan. The Information System will be easy to access and directed to the end-user and will support an interactive environment with a  user-friendly feature in promoting the province of Bataan. Information system is frequently used to refer to the interaction between people, processes, data and technology. In this sense, the term is used to refer not only to the information and communication technology (ICT) an organization uses, but also to the way in which people interact with this technology in support of business processes (Wikipedia) Giving information is how the two systems, which are the Bataan Information System and the proposed students’ portal, are similar. Both render numbers of information that are accessible by an authorized user in a  computerized process. †¢Campus Portals a Framework for Development Accommodating End-users’ Online Activities (an International Thesis) This thesis is about the development of a campus portal created for the University of Wollongong; thus was prepared by Tharitpong Fuangvut on 2005. A Campus Portal is an exciting recent phenomenon forming part of the new generation of online services for all stakeholders in institutions of higher education. Conceptually the general notion of a Portal should be to be distinguished from that of other Web- based applications and the traditional Intranet of the institution. The major objective of this research is to propose a development methodology specifically suitable for Campus Portal projects. While there are many accepted development methodologies for traditional and Web-based Information Systems, no clear body of knowledge on the development of Campus Portals has yet been recognized. Additionally, as this is a new area, the definitions, terms, concepts and important issues agreed to by academic researchers and practitioners, are still evolving. This research, therefore, needs to clarify and identify some important issues regarding Campus Portals  and their development, prior to composing the development methodology. In the second and third phases of the research, two studies were carried out, a preliminary study and a case study. These generated more understanding of the issues and extended the body of knowledge on Campus Portals, especially concerning their development. The preliminary study explored and investigated the online services and Campus Portals of 40 higher education institutions’ sites in Australia, New Zealand, the USA, the UK and Canada. The findings of the preliminary study show that there are no standard patterns in the function of  personalization and customization in Campus Portals. The case study was conducted in an Australian university among the major stakeholder groups, namely, the development team and the end-users (students and academic staff). Students were the primary focus of the end-user study, from which data was collected using a survey to build up usage patterns of their online activities. Statement of Goals Due to the data gatherings that the researcher had conducted many thoughts lead the proponent to know and study more of the certain dilemmas and inefficiencies that taking place within the process wherein  the people affected perhaps are not aware. Currently, students are given limits on viewing their own records kept by the University due to several uncertainties it will cost, uncertainties that include lack of time and extensive work of the people involved. Furthermore, the proponent had also studied prior concerns which will benefit everyone that are included on the process once implemented on the system: †¢Security of data that will ensure a protected system that traces and prevents unauthorized access; †¢Encoding of the final grades that is one of the tasks of the faculty every end of a semester; †¢Downloadable and printable documents such as the Grades Slip coming from the Registrar’s office and a variety of forms coming from the Dean’s office. †¢Availability of students’ list with final grades which will help the Dean to generate the Dean’s list. The following goals are made and collected by the proponent through the aim of resolving the concerns mentioned. The goals are as follow: General Goal To develop a Student’s Portal for Bataan Peninsula State University that will enable students to access their personal, academic and financial records. Specific Goal To implement an authentication of users through the  use of ID no and password, as to prevent intruders and to assure the safety of all the data transmitted over the network. To incorporate a module for encoding the final grades of students every semester that the faculty uses. To provide downloadable and printable forms those are being retrieved from the Dean’s, Registrar’s and Finance office. To include a module that will enable the Dean to view the academic status of the students that she can use as basis for retrieving the Dean’s list. Significance of the Study For the Students Students are the ones that have a great benefit on the students’  portal because it will provide them quick access of their taken subjects prior to the curriculum they had enrolled with the corresponding final grades for each. Also, the system ensures the confidentiality and the update of records for each semester as long as new grades are issued to help the students be informed of their academic performance in the University. Aside from grades and subjects that can be viewed, a student will also have the privilege to view some his or her financial data that was managed by the finance office. For the Dean’s office Using the students’ portal, the Dean is able to view the academic  status of the students that include detail such as the final grades and to gather the names of those that are included on the Dean’s list. And also, as the portal offers a module for downloadable forms that are coming from the office, the task for issuing these certain forms will be eliminated thus reducing the workload of the Dean. For the Registrar’s Office As the students will be provided of options on determining their academic records, whether to just view it on the portal or to still ask for a printed copy coming from the Registrar’s office, somehow there will be a lessening of task on the Registrar’s part. For the Finance Office The Finance office can gain benefit from the students’ portal since the students can already check over their financial records online reducing the printing of documents such as the statement of accounts if permitted. For the Future Researchers The future researchers can acquire fundamental knowledge from and be able to use this thesis documentation as basis of their own research study if it’s all about developing a students’ portal. For the Developer To the developer, this will also provide better comprehension of her proposed system that will lead her to the further understanding of the entire  study that surely they can use on preparation of a brighter future that awaits her as IT professional. Scope and Limitations This study will focus on creating a students’ portal for Bataan Peninsula State University which is web-based where student records are the prior concern and accessible online. Student records that include: †¢Student’s personal information †¢Curriculum checklist that comprises all the subjects taken and to be taken by the student based on the University’s curriculum and the final grades for each †¢Grades records that consist of all the grades of the student for all his  subjects that he can query through supplying of a school year or semester. †¢Financial information that comprises the tuition fee with miscellaneous fees and discount fee, if there’s any, of a student. †¢Subject offering that pertains to the schedule of each subject that a student had enrolled belongs. The student can use this link to plan for his schedule for the upcoming semester. †¢Class Schedule encloses all the subject schedules of a student. As part of the authentication that was implemented on the portal, the users must provide an authorized username and password. On the system  there will be four types of user’s account: the student the faculty, the dean, the registrar and the administrator. In the Student account, the authorized tasks that users can do are: †¢Viewing of their records in through selecting from the following links: myProfile; myGrades that contains sub links such as Semester Grades, Curriculum Checklist, Collection of Grades; myFinance, mySubjectOffering and mySchedule. †¢Viewing other student’s or faculty staff’s records through selecting mySearch link, sending and receiving of messages through myInbox which is a form of messaging. †¢And, printing and downloading of forms such as Grades slip,  curriculum checklist and forms issued by the Dean and Registrar(eg. Change of Grade Form) Second, in the Faculty account, the authorized tasks that users can do are: †¢Entering student’s final grades for a particular subject, section school year and semester through the use of myClassRecord. †¢Viewing other student’s or faculty staff’s records through mySearch. †¢Uploading of lessons for the students Third, in the Dean account, the authorized tasks that Dean can do are: †¢Viewing of the Dean’s list for the current and the previous school year and semester. †¢Searching students to review their academic performance from the first year of his admission up to the present. †¢Searching class schedules by entering the assigned beginning and ending time of a class, in order for the Dean to be informed of what particular class is was going on for a moment. †¢Viewing faculty subject loads and schedules. Fourth, in the Registrar account, the authorized tasks that Registrar can do are: †¢Viewing of student’s general weighted average. †¢Updating the grades of a student that obtained a INC remarks from the past school year. †¢And, selecting the students that will form the Dean’s List. Lastly, the Administrator account, the authorized tasks that Registrar can do are: †¢Conversion of tables of records from MS Foxpro format to MS SQL. †¢Setting the current school year and semester. †¢Uploading of downloadable forms. †¢And, reset users’ passwords. The following are the limitations of the Students’ Portal: †¢Only the â€Å"Other Information† part and the password are the only records in the student’s page that can be altered. †¢Only the administrator can convert the tables from MS Foxpro format to SQL/simply add records on the database, can set the school year and can upload forms. †¢Only final grades are to be encoded by the faculty. Faculty cannot  edit anymore the grades of the students that belong to the previous school year and semester. †¢Only the faculty user and student users can exchange messages. †¢Only the Registrar can update the INC remarks of students that completed the subject. †¢Lastly, only the registrar can form the dean’s list. Definition of Terms †¢Transaction – a transaction usually means a sequence of information exchange and related work. A transaction is a unit of work that you want to treat as â€Å"a whole†. It has to either happen in full, or not at all. †¢Records – In computer data processing, a record is a collection of data  items arranged for processing by a program. Multiple records are contained in a file or data set. The organization of data in the record is usually prescribed by the programming language that defines the record’s organization and/or by the application that processes it. †¢Portal – a term, generally synonymous with gateway, for a World Wide Web site that is or proposes to be a major starting site for users when they get connected to the Web or that users tend to visit as an anchor site. †¢Web Portal – also known as a links page, presents information from diverse sources in a unified way. Apart from the standard search  engine feature, web portals offer other services such as e-mail, news, stock prices, information, databases and entertainment. †¢Links – Using hypertext, a link is a selectable connection from one word, picture, or information object to another. In a multimedia environment such as the World Wide Web, such objects can include sound and motion video sequences. †¢Search Engine – designed to search for information on the World Wide Web. The search results are usually presented in a list of results and are commonly called hits. The information may consist of web pages, images, information and other types of files. †¢Database – is a collection of information that is organized so that it can easily be accessed, managed, and updated. In one view, databases can be classified according to types of content: bibliographic, full-text, numeric, and images. †¢Client-server – describes the relationship between two computer programs in which one program, the client, makes a service request from another program, the server, which fulfills the request. †¢Web-based – refers to those applications or services that are resident on a server that is accessible using a Web browser and is therefore accessible from anywhere in the world via the Web. †¢Technology – the usage and knowledge of tools, techniques, and crafts, or is systems or methods of organization, or is a material product (such as clothing) of these things. The word technology comes from the Greek technologia techne ‘craft’ and -logia, the study of something, or the branch of knowledge of a discipline. The term can either be applied generally or to specific areas: examples include â€Å"construction technology†, â€Å"medical technology†, or â€Å"state-of-the-art technology†. †¢Application – program or group of programs designed for end users. Software can be divided into two general classes: systems software  and applications software †¢ Methodology Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF) provides a set of models, principles, and guidelines for designing and developing enterprise solutions in a way that ensures that all elements of a project, such as people, processes and tools, can be successfully managed. MSF also provides proven practices for planning, designing, developing, and deploying successful enterprise solutions. The researcher had intended to use MSF for her methodologies especially because they are in use of Microsoft solution tools such as the Microsoft. NET Framework and the Microsoft SQL Server. MSF has five phases these are the: Envisioning, Planning, Developing, Stabilizing and Deploying. Envisioning Phase – This phase broadly describes the goals and constraints of the study. During this phase, the reseacher gathered necessary information and resources for developing a students’ portal. One of the activities that were conducted is an interview with BPSU’s database administrator to further determine what are the things and transactions necessary to put on the portal to satisfy the needs of the University and the predicted users. Some of the approved transactions are the viewing of student’s profile including the  personal, academic and financial information; encoding of final grades and forming of the Dean’s list. Risk assessment regarding the developing of the system is also accomplished. On the process, the impact of the consequence is learned by determining the likelihood of its occurrence and the severity of the outcome relative to established project objectives. The envisioning phase culminates in the vision approved milestone. This milestone is the first point at which the project team and customer agree on the overall direction for the project, including what the product will and will not include. Planning Phase – This phase determines what to develop and how to develop it. The process of information is modified, gathered and undergoes three design processes namely conceptual, logical and physical perspective. During this phase, the researcher planned how to develop the Bataan Peninsula State University students’ portal on the way its functionality can achieve the requirements of the educational institution. For conceptual design process, the expectations of the users or beneficiary of the study must be achieved like the proposal that students by using the portal can easily view their own records. For the logical design process, this meet the developer’s steps and requirements on how to develop the said system, like in an instance the system software solution will be developed using Microsoft Visual Studio and SQL Server Management studio. This solution is able to interact and communicate with other transaction processes, applications and data source. Lastly for the Physical design process, with the developer’s perspective, the development of the system will be a great help and ease not only for the students but also for the offices of the University that handles student’s information keeping considering the volumes of users  and transactions. There would be a web-based implementation of a portal which will be used as the primary means for dissemination of the student’s profiles and information. The planning phase culminates in the Project plan approved milestone. This milestone is the point at which the project team, the customer, and key project stakeholders agree on the feature set and the design of the application. The Project plan approved milestone is essentially the contract with the customer to proceed with the project. Developing Phase – During this phase, the solution is developed and optimized until it is  deemed ready for production use. On this phase, the student’s portal is developed. The researcher experienced several revisions on the design, the basic functionalities and on the core transaction in order to follow the needs of the identified users. The development phase culminates in the Scope Complete milestone. At this milestone, all features are complete, and the product is ready for external testing and stabilization. This milestone is the opportunity for customers and end users, operations and support personnel, and key project stakeholders to evaluate the product and identify any remaining  issues they need to address before it ships. Stabilizing Phase – This phase conducts testing of the complete solution. During this phase, the researcher focuses on resolving and prioritizing bugs and preparing the solution for release. The stabilization phase culminates with the release of the product. The Release milestone occurs when the team has addressed all outstanding issues and shipped the product or placed it in service. At the Release milestone, responsibility for ongoing management and support of the product officially transfers from the project team to the operations and support organization. Deploying phase – the developer deploys the core technology and site components, stabilizes the deployment, transitions the project to operations and support, and obtains final customer approval of the project. After the deployment, the developer conducts a project review and a customer satisfaction survey. During this phase, the developer tested the usability of the students’ portal and determined whether it has achieved the requirements of the University that are identified during the envisioning stage by letting some selected persons from the proposed users/customers. The deployment complete milestone culminates the deploying phase.