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Management earnings forecasts (MEFs) may reduce information risk by corroborating the inferences that lenders draw from their private communication with borrowers. Consistent with this idea, we find that among firms with a general policy of issuing MEFs, those providing MEFs in the 6 months before loan origination with a forecast horizon beyond the origination date enjoy lower loan spreads. The frequency and precision of MEFs are also negatively associated with loan spreads. The associations are stronger when lenders' need for corroboration of their private information is expected to be greater. The associations are not driven by a firm's general information environment, signaling of managerial ability, opportunistic disclosure, or competition between public and private debt markets. Moreover, the issuance, frequency, and precision of MEFs are associated with loan amounts more spread out among participating lenders, suggesting that MEFs also reduce information asymmetry within a loan syndicate. Our study provides insight into the corroboration role of publicly disseminated MEFs in private loan markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has reinforced the importance of facial protection against droplet transmission of diseases. Healthcare workers wear personal protection equipment (PPE), including face shields and masks. Plastic face shields may have advantages over regular medical masks. Although many designs of face shields exist, there is a paucity of evidence regarding the efficacy of shield designs against droplet transmissions. There is even less published evidence comparing various face shields. Due to the urgency of the pandemic and the health and safety of healthcare workers, we aimed to study the efficacy of various face shields against droplet transmission. Methods: We simulated droplet transmission via coughing using a heavy-duty chemical spray bottle filled with fluorescein. A standard-adult sized mannequin head was used. The mannequin head wore various face shields and was positioned to face the spray bottle at either a 0°, 45°, or 90° angle. The spray bottle was positioned at and sprayed from 30 centimeters (cm), 60 cm, or 90 cm away from the head. These steps were repeated for all face shields used. Control was a mannequin that wore no PPE. A basic mask was also tested. We collected data for particle count, total area of particle distribution, average particle size, and percentage area covered by particles. We analyzed percent covered by particles using a repeated measures mixed-model regression with Tukey-Kramer pairwise comparison. Results: We used least square means to estimate the percentage area covered by particles. Wearing PPE regardless of the design reduced particle transmission to the mannequin compared to the control. The LCG mask had the lowest square means of 0.06 of all face-shield designs analyzed. Tukey-Kramer pairwise comparison showed that all PPEs had a decrease in particle contamination compared to the control. LCG shield was found to have the least contamination compared to all other masks (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Results suggest the importance of wearing a protective covering against droplet transmission. The LCG shield was found to decrease facial contamination by droplets the most of any tested protective equipment.

Copyright of Contemporary Accounting Research is the property of Canadian Academic Accounting Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Contemporary Accounting Research is the property of Canadian Academic Accounting Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The introduction of legumes such as alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) into forage systems is a sustainable alternative to pasture restoration by adding biologically fixed N and contributing to the biodiversity of the system. Also, crabgrass (Digitaria sanguinalis L.; [CG]) is known as a grass weed but has the potential to maintain forage mass (FM) during the summer contributing to restoration. Different experiments were carried out in Spring Hill, TN for 2 years each in tall fescue (Schedonorus arundinaceus [Schreb.] Dumort; [TF]) or orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L. [OG]), with the addition of alfalfa and CG. For each grass sward, two separate pastures were selected, and treatments were established in different years, totaling four different experiments [two Establishments (EST 1 and EST 2) for TF and OG]. The treatments imposed were (1) control (C), (2) synthetic N fertilization (SNF), (3) fall seeding of alfalfa (FA), (4) spring seeding of alfalfa (SA), (5) fall seeding of alfalfa + CG (FA + CG) and (6) spring seeding of alfalfa + CG (SA + CG). Each experiment had four replications totaling 24 plots each, and measurements included botanical composition and FM. In the TF pastures, there was no presence of alfalfa documented (0%), and little CG was detected, due to its high competitiveness; meanwhile, FM was only increased when N fertilization was used in EST 2, 3391 kg DM/ha. The average FM for all treatments in EST 1 was 2476 kg DM/ha. The OG pastures showed the presence of both alfalfa and CG in their botanical composition, with N fertilization also showing higher FM (EST 1, 2705 kg DM/ha; EST 2, 2390 kg DM/ha). Thus, alfalfa and CG have the potential to improve OG swards, but more research is needed to assess different establishment methods of alfalfa into TF swards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Contemporary Accounting Research is the property of Canadian Academic Accounting Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Contemporary Accounting Research is the property of Canadian Academic Accounting Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)