Planning through the Shared Use of Resources: A Case Study of DeKalb County, Georgia

In today's planning arena, schools are a critical, but often overlooked, piece in discussions about planning for healthy spaces. Schools are significant not only as educational institutions that serve students but also as substantial amenities that can be leveraged as community resources. One specific strategy by which schools can be deployed for such purposes is through shared use agreements, whereby schools and communities resolve, either through an informal or formal contract, to share the use of their facilities. Shared use agreements are an important strategy for both schools and communities to promote the efficient use of resources and to provide mutual benefits from public and private spaces that facilitate physical activity and improve health. Currently, many resources exist for schools to more effectively implement shared use. However, such resources are generally lacking for city governments and planning departments. As this study will demonstrate, these arenas are particularly important targets for initiating shared use, and the lack of advocacy and resources related to shared use in these arenas is particularly problematic. In DeKalb County, Georgia, such advocacy and resources are especially necessary considering the specific needs and context of the schools and communities in this district. Through an examination of the existing literature and a study of DeKalb County specifically, this paper makes a threefold argument, which follows that: 1) community-school partnerships that take advantage of shared use agreements can improve community health and well-being, 2) partnerships will be most effective if initiated by the county and city planning departments, and 3) because this practice is largely lacking in DeKalb County, it necessitates a context-specific resource to guide planners in more effective initiation and implementation.Botchwey, Nish

Ethical Corporate Citizenship: Does it Pay?

Ethical corporate citizenship and good corporate governance have received increased attention since the financial scandals prevalent at the beginning of the new millennium. This study first explores the relationship of ethical corporate citizenship to financial performance (i.e., greater profitability and efficiency, and lower cost of capital). Second, the study examines whether ethical corporate behavior is associated with a market-value premium. Results of prior studies are mixed. The results of our study contribute directly to the recent accounting literature in which specific aspects of ethical corporate behavior have been explored (Fukami et al. 1997; Ittner and Larker, 1998; Ballou et al., 2003; Clarkson et al., 2004). We use firms listed by Business Ethics as “The 100 Best Corporate Citizens” as our sample of ethical firms. The univariate results of our study indicate a significant relationship between ethical corporate behavior and financial performance (i.e., greater profitability and efficiency, and lower cost of capital). The results of multivariate tests, controlling for prior year market value of equity, yield results which indicate a marginally significant association between being recognized as ethical in that year and market value of equity, but no association between being recognized as ethical at least one time and market value of equity. Nevertheless, given our study’s findings of better financial performance and lower risk, we conclude that ethical corporate citizenship does indeed benefit a firm

Do Ethical Firms Bridge the Gender Gap in CEO Compensation?

Concern about the gender gap in employee compensation is an important social and business issue. Effective corporate social responsibility requires fair treatment of all employees, regardless of gender. Using a sample of firms that have been noted for their ethical behavior, this study examines whether ethical firms compensate female CEOs comparably to male CEOs. Our sample of ethical firms includes companies listed as one of the “100 Best Corporate Citizens” by Corporate Responsibility (formerly Business Ethics) magazine and with data available in Compustat, CRSP, and ExecuComp for fiscal years 1998-2009. We hypothesize that ethical firms, relative to non-list firms, close (or at least narrow) the gender gap in CEO compensation. Our findings indicate that female CEOs of ethical companies are not penalized for their gender (that is, they do not earn less than their male counterparts)

Three essays on taxation

This dissertation contains three essays. The first essay examines the response of equity values to the announcement of a decrease in the capital gains tax rate. The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 reduced the long-term capital gains tax rate. News of this rate reduction reached investors in late April to early May of 1997. During the week of this event, firms with appreciated stock positions, average holding periods of at least one year, and individual marginal investors reported lower returns than companies lacking one or more of these characteristics. The second essay builds on recent research reporting that firms establish target capital structures by weighing the costs and benefits of debt and that adjustment costs dictate how rapidly companies move toward optimal leverage ratios. If tax considerations impact debt structures adjust more rapidly than companies below the goals because low-tax firms have less need of interest deductions to decrease tax burdens and, thus, sacrifice less tax benefit when retiring debt. The third essay demonstrates that manufacturing firms manipulate production to manage earnings and examines whether tax incentives magnify or temper this strategy. Companies that exceed the quarterly consensus analyst forecasts absent the earnings effects of discretionary inventory changes cut production and create an earnings cookie jar for future quarters. For this sub-sample, companies make larger discretionary inventory decreases as the marginal tax rates rise in the fourth quarter relative to the first three quarters. In contrast, the sub-sample of firms that miss income goals without manipulating production use discretionary inventory increases to enhance earnings and potentially reach benchmarks. Higher tax rates do not impede miss firms from managing earnings upward; however, considerations of tax timing dissuade these companies from opportunistically manipulating production in the fourth quarter.levels of the firms, taxes are also likely to influence the rates of adjustment to target levels. Among high-tax firms, companies below the optimal leverage ratios respond more quickly than companies above the targets because high-tax firms can better utilize the interest deductions generated by issuing additional debt to reduce tax liabilities. Among low-tax firms, companies above the target capita

Постспленектомічний спленоз, як предиктор розвитку рецидиву хвороби Верльгофа

Спленектомія (СЕ) у хворих на хворобу Верльгофа (ХВ), виконується у випадку неефективності консервативного лікування цього тяжкого захворювання. Не зважаючи на високий ризик оперативного втручання, пов'язаний з притаманним для цього захворювання порушеннями в системі згортання крові, СЕ продовжує активно використовуватися , так як є найбільш ефективним методом лікування ХВ

Human Noroviruses in Swine and Cattle

Detection of GII.4 norovirus sequences in animal fecal samples and retail meats demonstrates that noroviruses may be transmitted zoonotically

VAST Challenge 2016: Streaming Visual Analytics

The 2016 VAST Challenge returns to the (fictional) island of Kronos to pose three Mini-Challenges. In Mini-Challenge 1, participants must design an innovative interactive visual interface that enables security investigators from the Euybia Island Resort and Conference Center to conduct real-time analysis of streaming data. In Mini-Challenge 2, the GAStech Corporation returns from the 2014 kidnapping disaster more committed than ever to tighten up operations at its new headquarters in Abila. Using data from stationary and mobile sensors of multiple types, participants must help the company to understand both operational issues as well as security issues. In Mini-Challenge 3, participants are asked to try their hand at the most complex VAST Challenge scenario to date: 2.5 days of live, streaming operational data. The VAST Challenge 2016 received 29 submissions and had participation from 72 reviewers

Вероятностный анализ перетоков по межсистемным связям

В результате проведенного анализа определен характер связей, а также характеристики, определяющие нагрузку ЛЭП, и их динамика. Исследована связь величин активных и реактивных мощностей при согласованных и встречных перетоках. Установлены достаточные статистические выборки, с приемлемой точностью описывающие процесс в целом