Diastolic dysfunction

Diastolic dysfunction of the heart is characterized by normal left ventricular contractility and normal ejection fraction, however ventricular relaxation is impaired. In systolic dysfunction, ventricular contractility and ejection fraction are reduced, in addition to impaired relaxation. The prevalence of diastolic dysfunction is increased in the elderly, especially those who have had inadequately treated hypertension. Both diastolic and systolic dysfunction may result in similar clinical signs and symptoms. Therefore, echocardiography is needed to make the distinction. Left atrial (LA) enlargement, assessed by left atrial volume indexed to body surface area, appears to be the best measure to assess diastolic function. LA enlargement is likely when indexed LA volume is > or = 34-40 mL/m2. B-type natriuretic protein appears to be useful for the diagnosis, assessment and prognosis of heart failure, but it does not distinguish between the two types of dysfunctions. Several drug treatments that have effects on the mechanism of diastolic dysfunction are under investigation.     

Diastolic dysfunction of the left ventricle. A review of the physiology, causes, diagnosis, treatment and implications

Diastolic dysfunction of the left ventricle frequently occurs in people with left ventricular hypertrophy and coronary artery disease. It is a common cause of congestive heart failure, especially in the elderly. The mechanism of diastolic dysfunction, its causes, diagnosis and treatment, are reviewed. These are important factors to a Medical Director who must assess the results of non-invasive studies. Alerted by the possibility of diastolic dysfunction, the Medical Director can be more sensitive to other signs and symptoms that may represent early signs of congestive heart failure or ischemia.     

会计信息的信贷决策有用性:基于所有权制度制约的研究

本文在我国制度背景下以两阶Logit回归模型考察我国会计信息的信贷决策有用性。模型包括银行信贷决策的会计财务指标,也包括所有权性质等制度因素。结果表明,会计信息可以降低信贷决策中信息不对称程度,但是信贷决策有用性在所有权制度层面被削弱,主要源于企业与银行均为政府终极所有时银行监督缺位。银行信贷决策中是否使用会计信息不单单是会计信息质量问题,也受所有权制度约束。     

Utilizing NT-proBNP in the selection of risks for life insurance

Brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) is a counter-regulatory hormone produced mainly by ventricular myocardium. Early research studies were performed to ascertain its value in the diagnosis of congestive heart failure in acute care settings. Subsequent studies have explored its utility in screening for asymptomatic left ventricular dysfunction in the community, determining prognosis in coronary artery disease, appropriate timing of surgery in valve disorders, and in evaluating many other cardiac diseases. This review summarizes the current status of medical literature, introduces a new test to the insurance industry.     

Complexity,uncertainty and future risks

Roger Kasperson’s paper prompts us to reflect on whether traditional risk communication tools and approaches might be inadequate for many of the tasks now emerging. One can point to the increasingly complex nature of some technological and environmental hazards; the need to scrutinise emerging technologies upstream of significant applications; and fundamental changes to risk identities within society. Perhaps, we now genuinely face a risk society, exemplified by the dysfunction of global financial systems, extreme inequalities and encroaching environmental threats, alongside the unwinding of traditional social identities? Strategic capacity to address many of these fundamental risk challenges is lacking.     

What We Might Learn About Fraud and Corporate Governance from NAB's Annus Horribilis

This article responds to the recent paper by Carolyn Cordery, "NAB's 'Annus Horribilis': Fraud and Corporate Governance" (Australian Accounting Review 17, 2: 62–70). Cordery's paper, while a useful addition to other explorations of the NAB case, merely touches on the many complex aspects of the corporate governance debate without exploring in depth the unique features of the NAB fraud. This article acknowledges the important role of corporate governance structures as argued by Cordery. However, these conditions alone are not sufficient, and organisations need to manage dysfunction of cognitive biases in order to create a culture in which trust, respect, candour and open-constructive dissent are the norm.     

An intemporal model of asset prices in a Markov economy with a limiting stationary distribution

A testable single-beta model of asset prices is presented. Ifstate variables have a long-run stationary joint dysfunction,then the rate return on a very long-term default-free discountbond will be perfectly correlated with the representative investor'smarginal utility of consumption. Thus, the covariance of anasset's return with the return on such a bond will be an appropriatemeasure of the asset's riskiness. The model can be, therefore,applied or tested even though the market portfolio or aggregateconsumption may not be observable. It also is shown that theexpected rate of return on a very long-term bond is equal toits variance. This proposition can be tested to determine whetherstate variables follow stationary processes.     

渐进式改革中我国股票市场的功能缺陷及其反思

本文从中国近20年经济发展的渐进式改革进程的大背景出发,论述股票市场在其中所起到的作用.研究表明,国家主导型渐进式改革背景下对股票市场赋予了控制金融剩余、为国企改革服务的特殊任务,中国股票市场的制度设计抑制了股票市场资源配置功能的实现,而国家、地方、特权阶层、上市公司、机构投资者、散户等分利集团对自身利益的追求又产生了股票市场上种种的非市场化或违规现象.因此,股票市场资源配置失效产生的表面原因虽然常被归结为其自身内部的问题,但实质应是其所处的整个社会大环境的问题.认识这一点,对于我们重新考量中国金融体系的结构设计和布局有一定的现实意义.     

Analysing the risks of individual and collective intentionality

The risk assessment of complex systems often seems to neglect the way in which intentions, collective and individual, are central to our explanations of how risk arises in such systems. Contradictions among the intentions of different actors, for example, are typically an important part of our understanding of how organizations break down. Moreover, risk assessment practice pays little attention to the reflexive problem of how intentions for the risk assessment itself can themselves become problematic. This study was an attempt to develop a framework to support reasoning about intentionality, both individual and collective, during risk assessment. The framework broadly follows a process of 1) identifying the main social objects in a system, 2) asking what are the collective intentions for these objects in terms of the functions that are conferred on them, 3) asking what obligations and powers these create, and 4) asking what risks of organizational dysfunction can then arise. The approach was applied in a case study of aviation ramp operations. Its main value is as a formative rather than a summative kind of analysis.     

Vegetarian Utopias: Visions of dietary patterns in future societies and support for social change

The current study draws on the collective futures framework to examine how visions of future societies where most people consume plant-based, vegetarian or vegan diets are related to current support for social change towards plant-based diets. Participants were 506 university students in Aotearoa New Zealand invited to imagine a society in 2050 where most individuals consume a plant-based, vegetarian, or vegan diet. A thematic analysis was conducted on responses to an open-ended item asking how these future societies would be different to today. Participants reported a variety of potential positive and negative outcomes for individuals and wider society. Subsequent analyses of attitudes scales investigated the relationships between the collective dimensions of plant-based future societies and support for policies to promote plant-based diets. For a vegetarian future, the strongest predictor of current support for social change was the expectation that widespread vegetarianism would reduce societal dysfunction. For a vegan future, the strongest predictor of support for social change was an expectation of increased warmth in a vegan society. Implications for theory and advocacy are discussed.     

Capitalizing on capabilities

By making the most of organizational capabilities--employees' collective skills and fields of expertise--you can dramatically improve your company's market value. Although there is no magic list of proficiencies that every organization needs in order to succeed, the authors identify 11 intangible assets that well-managed companies tend to have: talent, speed, shared mind-set and coherent brand identity, accountability, collaboration, learning, leadership, customer connectivity, strategic unity, innovation, and efficiency. Such companies typically excel in only three of these capabilities while maintaining industry parity in the other areas. Organizations that fall below the norm in any of the 11 are likely candidates for dysfunction and competitive disadvantage. So you can determine how your company fares in these categories (or others, if the generic list doesn't suit your needs), the authors explain how to conduct a "capabilities audit," describing in particular the experiences and findings of two companies that recently performed such audits. In addition to highlighting which intangible assets are most important given the organization's history and strategy, this exercise will gauge how well your company delivers on its capabilities and will guide you in developing an action plan for improvement. A capabilities audit can work for an entire organization, a business unit, or a region--indeed, for any part of a company that has a strategy to generate financial or customer-related results. It enables executives to assess overall company strengths and weaknesses, senior leaders to define strategy, midlevel managers to execute strategy, and frontline leaders to achieve tactical results. In short, it helps turn intangible assets into concrete strengths.     

When teams can't decide. Are stalemates on your leadership team making you a dictator by default? Stop blaming your people--start fixing the process

Leadership teams that can't reach consensus wait for the CEO to make the final call--and often are disappointed by the outcome. Frisch calls this phenomenon the dictator-by-default syndrome. Many companies turn to team-building and communication exercises to try to fix the situation. But that won't work, the author argues, because the trouble is not with the people, it's with the decision-making process. Attempting to arrive at a collective preference on the basis of individual opinions is inherently problematic. Once leadership teams realize that voting-system mathematics are the culprit, they can stop wasting time on irrelevant psychological exercises and instead adopt practical measures designed to break the impasse. They must begin by acknowledging the problem and understanding what causes it. When more than two options are on the table, the scene is set for the CEO to become a dictator by default. Even yes-or-no choices present difficulties, because they always include a third, implied alternative: "Neither of the above." When the CEO and the team understand why they have trouble making decisions, they can adopt the following tactics to minimize dysfunction: Clearly articulate the desired outcome, generate a range of options for achieving it, test "fences" (which can be moved) and "walls" (which cannot), surface preferences early, state each option's pros and cons, and devise new options that preserve the best features of existing ones, Teams using such tactics need to adhere to two ground rules. First, they must deliberate confidentially, because a secure climate for conversation allows members to float trial balloons and cut deals. And second, members must be given enough time to study their options and assess the counterarguments. Only then can they achieve genuine alignment.     

小微企业正规融资效果研究——基于匹配模型的估计

正确评价小微企业正规融资的效果,不仅有利于缓解小微企业“融资难”问题,对制定小微企业信贷相关支持政策也具有重要意义。本文基于四川省小微企业信贷调查数据,从盈利和就业两个角度,以匹配方法估计了正规融资对小微企业的影响。结论表明:第一,小微企业有效信贷需求已较好满足,简单认为“融资难”并不准确;第二,正规融资使小微企业各项利润指标得到不同程度改善,这在一定程度上说明小微企业正规融资是可持续的。另一方面,短期内正规融资并未促进小微企业就业增加。第三,分行业看,正规融资对小微企业就业增加的抑制作用主要体现在制造业,而服务业和其他行业无明显影响。     

小微企业正规融资效果研究——基于匹配模型的估计

正确评价小微企业正规融资的效果,不仅有利于缓解小微企业“融资难”问题,对制定小微企业信贷相关支持政策也具有重要意义。本文基于四川省小微企业信贷调查数据,从盈利和就业两个角度,以匹配方法估计了正规融资对小微企业的影响。结论表明:第一,小微企业有效信贷需求已较好满足,简单认为“融资难”并不准确;第二,正规融资使小微企业各项利润指标得到不同程度改善,这在一定程度上说明小微企业正规融资是可持续的。另一方面,短期内正规融资并未促进小微企业就业增加。第三,分行业看,正规融资对小微企业就业增加的抑制作用主要体现在制造业,而服务业和其他行业无明显影响。     

Africa in the 1990s and beyond: Alternative prescriptions and projections

This article examines the origins, dimensions and implications of Africa's crisis. It draws attention to the impact of historical experiences, the distortions and disarticulations of that experience, and to the coalitions, contradictions, crises and conflicts inherited at independence. It looks at postcolonial alignment and realignment of social and political forces, the crisis of accumulation and power, and the implications of the region's marginal location and role in the global division of labour and power. Calling for a need to transcend the manifestations of the African predicament, the article looks at regional and international responses to the crisis. It concludes by prescribing the need for a fundamental political restructuring, the empowerment of the people and their communities and organizations, a socially sensitive structural adjustment programme, and the recomposition of the content and context of politics and social relations.     

基于文献计量的企业风险管理研究现状分析

文献信息作为科研工作者成果,反映科研工作者对某一领域的认知和规律性的探索总结,并用于指导实践.通过现存的文献信息特征可以把握国内对企业风险管理的研究现状及存在问题.文献计量是应用数学和统计学的方法,将文献信息的特征转变为数量值,定量的研究文献的分布结构,变化规律和数量关系,探讨学科的发展方向及研究热点追踪.通过应用文献计量分析方法,针对搜索的国内企业风险管理文献库,通过文献增长数量趋势,关键词分析,研究机构及作者分布情况,被引频次以及文献增长规律曲线拟合等多角度定量分析,发现国内对企业风险管理研究的热点,难点,便于科研人员和企业管理者研究和学习.     

加快建设中国特色第三支柱个人养老金制度:理论探讨与政策选择

第三支柱个人养老金是国家养老金体系的重要支柱,也是中国特色养老金融体系的有机组成部分。建立和发展个人养老金制度有利于缓解养老金领域发展不平衡不充分问题,夯实应对人口老龄化的社会财富储备。个人养老金的核心特征是个人主导和享受财税政策支持。从功能上看,个人养老金是养老金制度补充和收入补充,推动投资养老理念形成并促进资本市场完善。目前的第三支柱个人养老金试点政策在覆盖人群、税优设计和运行流程等方面存在问题,未来应统筹国家三支柱养老金体系建设,重视政府作用的发挥,制定与我国财税体制改革相适应、公平有效的财税政策,充分调动金融机构的积极性,并加强养老金融教育。     

货币政策和宏观审慎政策的关联及启示——基于英格兰银行的经验

时至今日,宏观审慎政策在内涵、工具和框架等方面快速发展,不仅政策目标更加清晰,工具类型更加丰富,相关理论基础也在不断完善。作为危机后形成的新政策框架,宏观审慎政策在工具有效性、作用机制、政策框架设计及与货币政策的关系方面都还有待深入研究。特别是在制度框架中,如何考虑宏观审慎政策与货币政策的关联,合理设计政策决策框架均已成为关键。对中国而言,系统风险识别、监测与分析更加复杂、困难,需要对宏观审慎政策开展更加精细、深入研究,尤其应吸收借鉴国际经验,建立、完善适合中国的宏观审慎政策框架。基于此,本文首先对宏观审慎政策的理论基础、政策目标及工具等进行系统综述,而后从两类政策关联中涉及的三个重要问题出发,着重分析宏观审慎政策与货币政策之间关系,并分别从组织架构设计、货币政策框架改革、金融政策框架设计等方面,系统介绍了英格兰银行在货币政策和宏观审慎政策框架改革的经验,重点阐述英格兰银行如何实现理论发展与制度设计的较好融合。最后,给出我国宏观审慎政策发展的若干启示和政策建议。     

河北省城乡社会救助公共服务均等化研究

本文在有效性、相关性、独立性、可比性原则的指导下,以机会均等、过程均等、结果均为评价维度,构建了河北省城乡社会救助公共服务均等化评价指标体系,合成了社会救助公共服务综合发展指数。本文使用泰尔指数对河北省城市内部、农村内部及城乡间均等化的水平进行了定量分析,发现河北省城市内部、农村内部均等化泰尔指数呈现下降趋势,但城市内部的社会救助公共服务均等化进程较快,农村内部均等化程度低于城镇内部,农村内部下降幅度相对较小。城乡间泰尔指数较为稳定,但城乡间差异贡献率呈现上升趋势,自2011年开始,城乡间差异成为河北省整体泰尔指数差异最主要来源。     

生态利益分配的法治考量

环境治理上的困境也是环境法进化和发展的机遇.生态利益分配的失衡导致区域环境不正义问题、城乡环境不正义和群体环境不正义现象.生态利益分配的失衡与失范是生态环境问题的实质.生态利益的分配不是利益的剥夺和限制,其是以利益的维持和增进为目的,法律上权利是利益分配法律实现的惯常路径,利益是权利的核心要素,权利行使以保障利益实现为目的.因此,生态利益应以权利为路径来建构相应分配机制,要借助权属制度,确立权利的享有、权利的行使以及损害赔偿请求权制度来实现生态利益的法律实现.