The debased condition under which people work is pervasive in contemporary societies and is especially ubiquitous in the so-called developing world. Yet, internationally recognized standards for the regulation of working conditions abound and are often applauded, without the passion for their application. Otherwise, why should a country like Ghana, which has one of the highest numbers of ratified labour standards conventions, continue to be fraught with poor working conditions? This undoubtedly simple but fundamental question is what this study sought to answer. Earlier attempts to answer this question have suffered from the lack of rich empirical data and compelling theoretical convictions. In view of this, 'Labour Standards Application in Ghana: Influences, Patterns and Solutions' may be considered a valuable contribution to the treatise of the labour standards phenomenon. Theoretically, the study collates salient aspects of both the market-oriented neo-classical and the non-market institutional and political-economy perspectives into an integrated model for the conceptualization of the labour standards phenomenon in Ghana. A combination of the quantitative and qualitative research strategies is then adopted for primary data collection in view of their respective epistemological and ontological implications. Specifically, a survey, which requires a large sample size to aid the generalisation of the existing patterns in the application of labour standards is used and complimented with interviews and observations to facilitate in-depth and contextual analyses of the issues under study.This thesis is therefore a presentation of a thoroughly researched and argued study of the influences on, patterns of, and solutions to, the labour standards problem. With regard to the macro level influences, the study has shown that continuous external influences in the form of the World Bank and the IMF policies, with their emphasis on economic growth, erodes the very fabric of the society and Ghana's capacity to turn workers away from victims of economic growth to dignified citizens. Meanwhile, what is needed to create wealth - which may be fairly distributed, is a dignified working class. Particularly as it relates to the patterns of labour standards application, the study provides a compelling reason for the conclusion that working conditions in Ghana are poor and that it is misleading to put all multinational corporations and local firms together and make blanket statements as to whether or not they apply labour standards. This is because a number of factors, such as the country of origin, determine whether they apply labour standards or not. Regarding solutions, the revelation is that, the solutions to the labour standards problem proposed in the literature and in use in many developed countries are simply not workable in Ghana. Deliberative recommendations are therefore presented, in a context specific fashion, to ensure that labour standards application in Ghana is not just rhetoric but a reality. This way, the labour standards problem will be minimised and the working people of Ghana will be treated as worthy of the decency and dignity due all humans.

M.B.A. / Laboratories have historically been required to demonstrate competence to test or calibrate against a scope of accreditation that details specific tests and/or measurements in order to ensure equivalence of technical output. The international standardisation community appears to believe that greater focus on quality system elements will contribute to increased confidence in the work performed by organisations that implement them. Unfortunately, a valid system only guarantees consistent output. The potential danger of laboratory tests that are consistent but wrong is too great to be ignored. These fundamentally conflicting philosophies of competence versus compliance are now being combined into one document, the recent revision of ISOIIEC Guide 25 into the ISOIIEC FDIS 17025 General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories. In preparing for the change to the new standard, smaller laboratories are faced with a potential disproportionate increase in documentation requirements even though their demonstrated competence is already accepted internationally. The primary aim of this research is to determine if there are differences between implementation of the revised standard in a smaller laboratory to that of the larger laboratory that should be considered in order to ensure that the smaller facility is not subject to a potential technical barrier to trade. As part of the research, a questionnaire was created and distributed to test assumptions about the current knowledge of quality requirements within laboratories, the value obtained to date with implementing such systems and the ability of the laboratory staff to cope with more in-depth or any additional quality criteria that might be introduced...

Boston University. University Professors Program Senior theses. / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-02

0 / SPK / specialcollections@tulane.edu

Sergio Mujica - Secretario General ISO. / Conferencia realizada en el marco del evento "Los desafíos del Perú en la Normalización Internacional" que contó con la participación del Ministerio de la Producción y del Instituto Nacional de la Calidad (INACAL)

Purpose - To identify how auditors can incorporate unpredictability into their audit plan in order to comply with both US and international auditing standards on the prevention and detection of fraud. Design/methodology/approach - Review of auditing standards, fraud cases, and other audit literature. Findings - A cost-benefit model for evaluating unpredictability and 17 specific ways that auditors can incorporate unpredictability. Practical implications - This paper can be used by practicing auditors to develop ways to increase their compliance with professional standards. Originality/value - The paper fills avoid in the literature with respect to how auditors can be unpredictable as required by auditing standards.

This study examines the value relevance of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) based accounting measures for the periods before, during and after hyperinflation in Zimbabwe. The study uses a sample of 30 listed companies for the entire period from 1996 to 2013. It uses the fixed effects (FE) technique to examine the value relevance of IFRS based accounting numbers using the price model as the main tool for analysis and thereafter, the returns model as an additional tool for further analysis to this study Using the price model, the results show that IFRS based accounting measures in the form of earnings per share (EPS) and book value of equity per share (BVPS) are more value relevant before and during the hyperinflation periods relative to the after-hyperinflation period using the share prices 4 months after year end as proxies for firm value. The results also show that EPS is more value relevant before and during the hyperinflation period where as BVPS is not. The results further show that both EPS and BVPS are not value relevant for the period after hyperinflation when share prices 4 months after year end are used in the analysis. Further tests under the price model show no change in the conclusions reached if share prices 5 and 6 months after year end are used. Furthermore, tests based on a year on year analysis show that IFRS based accounting measures were more value relevant before and during the hyperinflation period relative to the after the hyperinflation period. In addition, for the period during hyperinflation, the year on year analysis shows that the EPS measure was value relevant for all the years while the BVPS was not for the years 2003 and 2005. A further test on whether historical cost IFRS based accounting measures are more value relevant than inflation adjusted IFRS based accounting measures (used in the main analysis) was also conducted for the period during hyperinflation (i.e. 2000-2005 only). The results based on this analysis show that both historical cost and inflation adjusted IFRS based accounting measures are value relevant during a hyperinflationary period irrespective of whether share prices 4, 5 or 6 months are used as proxies for firm value. Thus, this finding shows that historical cost and inflation adjusted accounting information should be used as complements and not as substitutes for each other. Using the returns model under additional analysis, the results further show that the accounting measures were more value relevant before and during the hyperinflation periods relative to the after-hyperinflation period. The results also show that EPS was value relevant before and during hyperinflation irrespective of whether share returns 4, 5 or 6 months after year end were used in the analysis. In addition, further tests based on the returns model show that both historical cost and inflation adjusted sets of accounting measures are value relevant for share valuation purposes during the hyperinflation period. This finding confirms that both historical cost and inflation adjusted accounting measures are value relevant and thus should be used jointly.

No description available.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Indices to assess malocclusion have been developed for either rating the 'severity of malocclusion' or for prioritizing a patient's need for orthodontic treatment. Most of these indices evaluate the malocclusion through examination of one or two of the following diagnostic records: dental casts, photographs, or clinical exam. However, no prior research had attempted to incorporate all of the above pretreatment orthodontic diagnostic records routinely taken for treatment evaluation. Pretreatment records (dental casts, intra-oral photographs, extra-oral photographs, panoramic radiograph, and a cephalogram, of sufficient quality to be reliably assessed) of 50 completed subjects treated at IUSD Graduate Orthodontic Clinic were evaluated. Subject criteria were a complete set of pretreatment orthodontic records, white non-Hispanic descent in the permanent dentition, absence of any craniofacial anomalies and known pathology. The 3M Unitek TM cephalometric protractor and electronic digital calipers accurate to the nearest tenth of a millimeter were used for measurements. Thirty-six measurements (11 cephalometric, 4 panoramic, 13 dental cast, and 8 photographic) were scored and combined into a total score that represents the new index. The peer assessment rating index (PAR Index) and a subjective ranking of 3 experienced orthodontists (each having more than 20 years of clinical orthodontic experience) were completed on all subjects for determining validity of the new index. All scoring methods were repeated on a subset of 10 random subjects to determine reliability. Statistical analysis showed significant correlations for the ability of the new index to detect severity of malocclusion. Also, the study showed a higher correlation for the new index in representing the experts' rankings than did the PAR index. It is the conclusion of this investigation that the new index is a valid index of malocclusion that more closely reflects experienced orthodontists rankings than the PAR index.

No description available.