Integrating a web-enhanced study module into the accounting classroom: student perceptions and academic results.

Student engagement in a course is an important precursor of academic success. Within the discipline of accounting, successful completion of the self-study component of the course is a critical aspect of student engagement and success. Web-enhanced learning offers an apportunity to provide a structured learning environment with improved access to learning tools and immediate feedback that can improve completion rates of self-study activities. This study evaluated student perceptions and academic results relating to the implementation of a web-enhanced study module in an introductory accounting course in Business Administration department at John Abbott College. The results of this study indicate both a strongly favourable student perception of the web-enhanced study module as well as improved homework completion rates and academic results, particularly among students that had previously performed poorly within a tradional, non web-enhanced seelf study environment.||Résumé : L'engagement des élèves dans un cours est un précurseur important de la réussite scolaire. Dans la discipline de la comptabilité, la réussite de la composante d'auto-apprentissage du cours est un aspect critique de l'engagement et la réussite des élèves. Amélioration de l'apprentissage par Internet offre la possibilité de fournir un environnement d'apprentissage structuré avec un meilleur accès aux outils d'apprentissage et la rétroaction immédiate qui peuvent améliorer les taux d'achèvement des activités d'auto-apprentissage. Cette étude a évalué les perceptions des élèves et les résultats scolaires relatives à la mise en oeuvre d'un module d'étude avec accès Internet à un cours d'introduction à la comptabiblilté dans le département d'administration des affaires au Cégep John Abbott. Les résultats de cette étude indiquent à la fois une perception des étudiants fortement favorable du module d'étude avec accès Internet ansi que l'amélioration des taux d'achèvement des devoirs et des résultats scolaires en particulier chez les élèves qui avaient de mauvais résultats dans un cadre traditionnel, l'environnement d'étude non accès Internet.

Favourable areas for expansion and reintroduction of Iberian lynx accounting for distribution trends and genetic diversity of the European rabbit

Although on a local scale Iberian lynx distribution is determined by the availability of prey rabbits, recent modelling analyses have uncovered broad-scale disagreements between these two species’ distribution trends. These analyses showed also that the lynx had become restricted to only a fraction of the rabbit’s genetic diversity, and that this could be jeopardising its survival in the face of environmental hazards and uncertainty. In the present paper, a follow-up was carried out through the building of lynx and rabbit distribution models based on the most recent Spanish mammal atlas. Environmental favourability values for lynx and rabbit were positively correlated within the lynx’s current distribution area, but they were negatively correlated within the total Spanish area where lynx used to occur in the 1980’s. Environmental favourability for rabbits was significantly higher where lynx maintains reproductive populations than where it recently disappeared, indicating that rabbit favourability plays an important role and can be a good predictor of lynx persistence. The lynx and rabbit models were extrapolated to predict favourable areas for both species in Spain as well as in Portugal, on the original scale of the distribution data (10x10 km) and on a 100 times finer spatial resolution (1x1 km). The lynx and rabbit models were also combined through fuzzy logic to forecast the potential for lynx occurrence incorporating information on favourable areas for its main prey. Several areas are proposed as favourable for lynx expansion or re-introduction,

Environmental accounting and reporting in Italian local governments: a longitudinal analysis of changes in context, content and process

This research aims at contributing to a better understanding of changes in local governments’ accounting and reporting practices. Particularly, ‘why’, ‘what’ and ‘how’ environmental aspects are included and the significance of changes across time. It adopts an interpretative approach to conduct a longitudinal analysis of case studies. Pettigrew and Whipp’s framework on context, content and process is used as a lens to distinguish changes under each dimension and analyse their interconnections. Data is collected from official documents and triangulated with semi-structured interviews. The legal framework defines as boundaries of the accounting information the territory under local governments’ jurisdiction and their immediate surrounding area. Organisational environmental performance and externalities are excluded from the requirements. An interplay between the local outer context, political commitment and organisational culture justifies the implementation of changes beyond what is regulated and the implementation of transformational changes. Local governments engage in international networks to gain access to funding and implement changes, leading to adopting the dominant environmental agenda. Key stakeholders, like citizens, are not engaged in the accounting and reporting process. Thus, there is no evidence that the environmental aspects addressed and related changes align with stakeholders’ needs and expectations, which jeopardises its significance. Findings from the current research have implications in other EU member states due to the harmonisation of accounting and reporting practices and the common practice across the EU in using external funding to conceptualise and implement changes. This implies that other local governments could also be representing a limited account related to environmental aspects.

One Step Forward: Contrasting The Effects Of Toe Clipping And Pit Tagging On Frog Survival And Recapture Probability.

Amphibians have been declining worldwide and the comprehension of the threats that they face could be improved by using mark-recapture models to estimate vital rates of natural populations. Recently, the consequences of marking amphibians have been under discussion and the effects of toe clipping on survival are debatable, although it is still the most common technique for individually identifying amphibians. The passive integrated transponder (PIT tag) is an alternative technique, but comparisons among marking techniques in free-ranging populations are still lacking. We compared these two marking techniques using mark-recapture models to estimate apparent survival and recapture probability of a neotropical population of the blacksmith tree frog, Hypsiboas faber. We tested the effects of marking technique and number of toe pads removed while controlling for sex. Survival was similar among groups, although slightly decreased from individuals with one toe pad removed, to individuals with two and three toe pads removed, and finally to PIT-tagged individuals. No sex differences were detected. Recapture probability slightly increased with the number of toe pads removed and was the lowest for PIT-tagged individuals. Sex was an important predictor for recapture probability, with males being nearly five times more likely to be recaptured. Potential negative effects of both techniques may include reduced locomotion and high stress levels. We recommend the use of covariates in models to better understand the effects of marking techniques on frogs. Accounting for the effect of the technique on the results should be considered, because most techniques may reduce survival. Based on our results, but also on logistical and cost issues associated with PIT tagging, we suggest the use of toe clipping with anurans like the blacksmith tree frog.

[health Protection For Rural Workers: The Need To Standardize Techniques For Quantifying Dermal Exposure To Pesticides].

Quantification of dermal exposure to pesticides in rural workers, used in risk assessment, can be performed with different techniques such as patches or whole body evaluation. However, the wide variety of methods can jeopardize the process by producing disparate results, depending on the principles in sample collection. A critical review was thus performed on the main techniques for quantifying dermal exposure, calling attention to this issue and the need to establish a single methodology for quantification of dermal exposure in rural workers. Such harmonization of different techniques should help achieve safer and healthier working conditions. Techniques that can provide reliable exposure data are an essential first step towards avoiding harm to workers' health.

Survival Extrapolation In The Presence Of Cause Specific Hazards.

Health economic evaluations require estimates of expected survival from patients receiving different interventions, often over a lifetime. However, data on the patients of interest are typically only available for a much shorter follow-up time, from randomised trials or cohorts. Previous work showed how to use general population mortality to improve extrapolations of the short-term data, assuming a constant additive or multiplicative effect on the hazards for all-cause mortality for study patients relative to the general population. A more plausible assumption may be a constant effect on the hazard for the specific cause of death targeted by the treatments. To address this problem, we use independent parametric survival models for cause-specific mortality among the general population. Because causes of death are unobserved for the patients of interest, a polyhazard model is used to express their all-cause mortality as a sum of latent cause-specific hazards. Assuming proportional cause-specific hazards between the general and study populations then allows us to extrapolate mortality of the patients of interest to the long term. A Bayesian framework is used to jointly model all sources of data. By simulation, we show that ignoring cause-specific hazards leads to biased estimates of mean survival when the proportion of deaths due to the cause of interest changes through time. The methods are applied to an evaluation of implantable cardioverter defibrillators for the prevention of sudden cardiac death among patients with cardiac arrhythmia. After accounting for cause-specific mortality, substantial differences are seen in estimates of life years gained from implantable cardioverter defibrillators.