Preface

An introduction to the volume

The County Historical Society: Financial and Reporting Issues

Jessie Star, a recent accounting graduate from State University, has just volunteered (at the urging of her boss) to be the treasurer for the local Historical Society.  The County Historical Society is a not-for-profit organization that operates a museum displaying historical artifacts and an archive library housing historical documents and photographs.  The Society also operates a gift shop in its museum and manages a historical home owned by the county government.  The museum, library, storage areas, and offices are located in a building rented from a local corporation.  The historical home is located just a few blocks away.  The Society has three employees on its payroll:  Robert James, the full-time Executive Director, Erika Lawson, the part-time Museum Assistant, and an Archive Librarian, John Nelson.  A volunteer Board of Trustees, consisting of twelve members from the community, directs the Society.  As Treasurer, Jessie is an officer and member of the Board of Trustees.  She has the primary responsibility for maintaining the Society’s books, making investment/financing recommendations to the Board, and assisting with the annual external audit of the financial statements. Jesse has been struggling to get up to speed with the Society’s accounting so that she’ll be ready for her first Board meeting.  She is not very familiar with Fund Accounting and has never been involved with this type of not-for-profit organization.  Jessie set up a meeting with the former treasurer, Al Gone, to help her get up to speed with the issues

Leadership Styles, School Climate, and School Performance of Higher Education Institutions in Southern Mindanao

This study determined the extent of leadership styles practiced by the school administrators, the level of school climate, and the school performance of Higher Educational Institutions in Southern Mindanao in the trilogy programs of higher education namely: instruction, research, and community extension.The descriptive-correlational research design was used employing quantitative method. The data were gathered through survey questionnaire and administered to the 96 respondents composed of school administrators and teachers. The findings of the study revealed that the most dominant leadership styles practiced by the school administrators are Servant Leadership and Democratic Leadership. Results also revealed that the level of school climate in selected HEIs is high. In terms of Instructional programs, Research programs, and Community Extension Programs, the status of the school is “very good” and that these programs are highly fulfilled. The findings also revealed that there was a significant moderate positive correlation between leadership style and school climate. Moreover, there was significant low positive correlation between leadership styles and school performance. Given the overall results, the study had recommended that an administrative training program which was formulated based on the findings of the study should be adopted by the selected Higher Educational Institutions in Southern Mindanao

Sounds Good to Me: How Communication Mode and Priming Affect Auditor Performance

Audit associates routinely interact with clients to request explanations and evidence regarding financial statement account balances. Client explanations may be vague or incomplete. We examine whether auditors\u27 assessments of the quality of client explanations and their decision to follow-up with the client are influenced by (1) communication modes that vary in media richness, and (2) a prime that is intended to stimulate skeptical behavior. Media richness refers to the amount of data inherent in the communication mode. We predict that richer communication modes, such as video, can be more distracting than less rich communication modes, such as email. More distracted auditors will assess the quality of the client\u27s response as higher and are less likely to follow-up with the client—potentially impairing audit quality and increasing audit risk. We predict and find that a prime that focuses auditors on the verifiability of the client\u27s response will mitigate this behavior

Resolution dependence of turbulent structures in convective boundary layer simulations

Large-eddy simulations are performed using the UK Met Office Large Eddy Model to study the effects of resolution on turbulent structures in a convective boundary layer. A standard Smagorinsky subgrid scheme is used. As the grid length is increased the diagnosed height of the boundary layer increases and the horizontally- and temporally-averaged temperature near the surface and in the inversion layer increase. At the highest resolution, quadrant analysis shows that the majority of events in the lower boundary layer are associated with cold descending air, followed by warm ascending air. The largest contribution to the total heat flux is made by warm ascending air, with associated strong thermals. At lower resolutions, the contribution to the heat flux from cold descending air is increased and that from cold ascending air is reduced in the lower boundary layer; around the inversion layer, however, the contribution from cold ascending air is increased. Calculations of the heating rate show that the differences in cold ascending air are responsible for the warm bias below the boundary layer top in the low resolution simulations. Correlation length and time scales for coherent resolved structures increase with increasing grid coarseness. The results overall suggest that differences in the simulations are due to weaker mixing between thermals and their environment at lower resolutions. Some simple numerical experiments are performed to increase the mixing in the lower-resolution simulations and to investigate backscatter. Such simulations are successful in reducing the contribution of cold ascending air to the heat flux just below the inversion, although the effects in the lower boundary layer are weaker

From High School to College: Factors Shaping the Collegiate Experience

The purpose for conducting this study was to develop an understanding of undergraduate college students\u27 Social readiness for the collegiate experience. The study made use of a qualitative approach and a narrative research design that used focus group interviews. The seven focus group interviews were conducted at four sites across the Southern and Midwest United States, including different institutional types. These institutions included a community college, private college, research and comprehensive state university. A total of 21 undergraduate first- and second-year students participated. The findings included external factors such as parents, siblings, friends and teachers having a significant influence over the students\u27 perceptions of their college experience. Similarly, students in the study found that participation in extracurricular activities in high school helped in their transition to college. However, for first-year students in the study, developing interpersonal relationships in their first year of college was difficult and often marked with disintegrating friendships with roommates. Sophomores in the study found themselves more comfortable in their college surroundings as well as having a solid base of friends. No matter the classification of students in the study or institution type, a connection to family and friends were important in the transition to college. By having a better understanding of the factors that contribute to the students\u27 collegiate experience based on their expectations and experiences, administrators and faculty alike will be able to better develop policy and initiatives that will contribute to students\u27 eventual success, satisfaction, and graduation from our institutions

User-Focused Redesign: Using Survey and Usability Data to Redesign a Library Website

Are library websites meeting our users’ needs? Usability testing is one way to answer this question. Panelists will share the planning process and usability testing method employed for the redesign of an academic library website. Observations, video clips from the tests, and practical application of the findings will be shared

Preparing Family Caregivers to Recognize Delirium Symptoms in Older Adults After Elective Hip or Knee Arthroplasty

Objectives To test the feasibility of a telephone-based intervention that prepares family caregivers to recognize delirium symptoms and how to communicate their observations to healthcare providers. Design Mixed-method, pre–post quasi-experimental design. Setting A Midwest Veterans Affairs Medical Center and a nonprofit health system. Participants Forty-one family caregiver-older adult dyads provided consent; 34 completed the intervention. Intervention Four telephone-based education modules using vignettes were completed during the 3 weeks before the older adult\u27s hospital admission for elective hip or knee replacement. Each module required 20 to 30 minutes. Measurements Interviews were conducted before the intervention and 2 weeks and 2 months after the older adult\u27s hospitalization. A researcher completed the Confusion Assessment Method (CAM) and a family caregiver completed the Family Version of the Confusion Assessment Method (FAM-CAM) 2 days after surgery to assess the older adults for delirium symptoms. Results Family caregivers’ knowledge of delirium symptoms improved significantly from before the intervention to 2 weeks after the intervention and was maintained after the older adult\u27s hospitalization. They also were able to recognize the presence and absence of delirium symptoms in the vignettes included in the intervention and in the older adult after surgery. In 94% of the cases, the family caregiver rating on the FAM-CAM approximately 2 days after the older adult\u27s surgery agreed with the researcher rating on the CAM. Family caregivers expressed satisfaction with the intervention and stated that the information was helpful. Conclusion Delivery of a telephone-based intervention appears feasible. All family caregivers who began the program completed the four education modules. Future studies evaluating the effectiveness of the educational program should include a control group

Effects of Open Marsh Water Management on Numbers of Larval Salt Marsh Mosquitoes

Open marsh water management (OMWM) is a commonly used approach to manage salt marsh mosquitoes than can obviate the need for pesticide application and at the same time, partially restore natural functions of grid-ditched marshes. OMWM includes a variety of hydrologic manipulations, often tailored to the specific conditions on individual marshes, so the overall effectiveness of this approach is difficult to assess. Here, we report the results of controlled field trials to assess the effects of two approaches to OMWM on larval mosquito production at National Wildlife Refuges (NWR). A traditional OMWM approach, using pond construction and radial ditches was used at Edwin B. Forsythe NWR in New Jersey, and a ditch-plugging approach was used at Parker River NWR in Massachusetts. Mosquito larvae were sampled from randomly placed stations on paired treatment and control marshes at each refuge. The proportion of sampling stations that were wet declined after OMWM at the Forsythe site, but not at the Parker River site. The proportion of samples with larvae present and mean larval densities, declined significantly at the treatment sites on both refuges relative to the control marshes. Percentage of control for the 2 yr posttreatment, compared with the 2 yr pretreatment, was \u3e90% at both treatment sites