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.     

Culture,Self-Construal,and Leisure Motivations

The purpose of this study is to examine Canadian and Mainland Chinese students' leisure by investigating the role self-construal plays as an intervening variable between culture and motivation. Separate hierarchical multiple regressions are performed on each motivation with culture entered first followed by a block composed of four types of self-construal: vertical collectivism (i.e., dutiful), horizontal collectivism (i.e., cooperative), horizontal individualism (i.e., unique), and vertical individualism (i.e., achievement oriented). Results suggest that: (a) higher levels of horizontal collectivism are associated with higher levels of introjected reward (i.e., pride), identified (i.e., personally important), integrated (self-identity), and intrinsic (i.e., interesting and enjoyable) motivations; and (b) higher levels of horizontal individualism are associated with higher levels of introjected reward, identified, and integrated motivations.     

Dealing with consumer default: Bankruptcy vs garnishment

What are the positive and normative implications of eliminating bankruptcy protection for indebted individuals? Without bankruptcy protection, creditors can collect on defaulted debt to the extent permitted by wage garnishment laws. The elimination lowers the default premium on unsecured debt and permits low-net-worth individuals suffering bad earnings shocks to smooth consumption by borrowing. There is a large increase in consumer debt financed essentially by super-wealthy individuals, a modest drop in capital per worker, and a higher frequency of consumer default. Average welfare rises by 1% of consumption in perpetuity, with about 90% of households favoring the change.     

Management Guidance Pre‐ and Post‐Restatement

We examine whether the quality of restating firms’ management guidance differs in periods before and after restatement announcements. While characteristics of restating firms and the consequences of restatement have been a central topic in accounting and auditing research, the quality of management guidance around restatements is less well understood. We consider two competing characterizations of the link between management forecast accuracy and bias and restatement (an event that tends to signal poor financial controls): “Forecast–Opportunism Explanation” and “Forecast–Ability Explanation”. Under the Forecast–Opportunism Explanation, pre‐restatement weaknesses in financial controls enable managers to manipulate earnings toward forecasts and to meet or exceed opportunistically biased forecasts, and the post‐restatement strengthening of financial controls constrains opportunistic behavior. Under the Forecast–Ability Explanation, pre‐restatement weaknesses in financial controls impede managers’ ability to issue accurate forecasts, and post‐restatement improvements remove impediments so that the accuracy of forecasts improves; forecast bias remains unaffected. Evidence indicates that before a restatement, restating firms’ forecasts are more accurate and relatively more downwardly biased than control firms’ forecasts. Post‐restatement, restating firms have less accurate and less downwardly biased management guidance. Our overall results are consistent with the Forecast–Opportunism Explanation.     

Tax penalties on fluctuating incomes: estimates from longitudinal data

Progressive personal income taxes can cause individuals with fluctuating incomes to pay more taxes over time than individuals with constant incomes of the same average value. The implicit tax penalty violates principles of equity and may harm efficiency by discouraging risk-taking activities, such as entrepreneurship. This paper uses longitudinal data to estimate the tax penalties in six panels of Canadian data from 1993 to 2010. The effects of various income averaging policies for mitigating tax penalties are then examined.     

Remarks on Engineering Economy Studies from the Viewpoint of Statistical Decision Theory

Lack of credit during periods of financial stress can reduce sales in an entire supply chain. To reduce the reliance on external credit, we introduce a new financing framework in which key supply chain stakeholders accept delayed payment for a pre-agreed portion of their product or service. By doing so throughout the supply chain, each stakeholder must self-finance only their in-house activities—but not the cost of purchased components and services because those are in turn financed by their suppliers. Intended to account for only a small fraction of sales, this framework is limited to supplying customers who do not qualify for external financing. The payments from these customers are distributed among the value chain stakeholders according to an agreed-upon policy. These additional sales would otherwise be lost for lack of consumer credit. This approach increases sales and profitability for the entire supply chain and is especially advantageous during credit crunches. In addition to describing this new financing framework, this article places it in the context of other financing arrangements, provides an example with cash flow and net present value calculations, and identifies implementation challenges and characteristics of supply chains that are good candidates.     

Potential responses by on-campus university students to a university emergency alert

University campuses across Canada and elsewhere are developing and implementing emergency alert systems to warn campus community members about a variety of threats. In this study, focus group discussions were used to examine how undergraduate students living on campus may respond to an emergency alert. A focus group activity used tornado, fire and threatening message alert messages to provide a context for the focus group discussions. After reading the warning message, most students understood the warning message but there was uncertainty about the non-specified threat and how and where to evacuate. Many would believe a message sent by the university as long as it was sent via a phone number that they associated with the university. Personalization of risk varied, and students reported that they would confirm a warning message with a variety of sources including student colleagues, faculty and teaching staff, television and internet sources. Taking protective action by sheltering in place was deemed to be feasible, however evacuation off campus was found to be problematic. We found that the nature of short message service text messages, the characteristics of universities, and the students’ home being in an on-campus residence influenced how the students may respond to an emergency alert message.     

More than imagination: Making social and critical accounting real

We offer a critical consideration of the roles of cognitive dissonance, imagination, and critical thinking in accounting education, suggesting that all three are important elements of critical and emancipatory accounting education, but that they must be set within a context that is rooted in the “real lives” of students and teachers alike, seeking to both understand the world and to challenge it.