How Big is the Tax Advantage to Debt?

This paper uses an option valuation model of the firm to answer the question, "What magnitude tax advantage to debt is consistent with the range of observed corporate debt ratios?" We incorporate into the model differential personal tax rates on capital gains and ordinary income. We conclude that variations in the magnitude of bankruptcy costs across firms can not by itself account for the simultaneous existence of levered and unlevered firms. When it is possible for the value of the underlying assets to junip discretely to zero, differences across firms in the probability of this jump can account for the simultaneous existence of levered and unlevered firms. Moreover, if the tax advantage to debt is small, the annual rate of return advantage offered by optimal leverage may be so small as to make the firm indifferent about debt policy over a wide range of debt-to-firm value ratios.

Debt Policy and the Rate of Return Premium to Leverage

Equilibrium in the market for real assets requires that the price of those assets be bid up to reflect the tax shields they can offer to levered firms.Thus there must be an equality between the market values of real assets and the values of optimally levered firms. The standard measure of the advantage to leverage compares the values of levered and unlevered assets, and can be misleading and difficult to interpret. We show that a meaningful measure of the advantage to debt is the extra rate of return, net of a market premium for bankruptcy risk, earned by a levered firm relative to an otherwise-identical unlevered firm. We construct an option valuation model to calculate such a measure and present extensive simulation results. We use this model to compute optimal debt maturities, show how this approach can be used for capital budgeting, and discuss its implications for the comparison of bankruptcy costs versus tax shields.

Solar-Powered Automated Transportation: Feasibility and Visualization

A solar-powered automated transportation network (ATN) connecting the North and South campuses of San José State University with three passenger stations was designed, visualized, and analyzed in terms of its energy usage, carbon offset, and cost. The study’s methodology included the use of tools and software such as ArcGIS, SketchUp, Infraworks, Sketchup, Rhinoceros, and Autodesk 3DS Max. ATN vehicle energy usage was estimated using data from the university’s Park & Ride shuttle bus operation and by modeling with SUMOPy, the advanced simulation suite for the micro-traffic simulator SUMO. The energy study showed that an extensive solar photovoltaic (PV) canopy over the guideway and stations is sufficient for the network to run 24/7 in better-than-zero net-metered conditions—even if ridership were to increase 15% above that predicted from SJSU Park & Ride shuttle data. The resulting energy system has a PV-rated output of 6.2 MW, a battery system capacity of 9.8 MWh, and an estimated cost of $11.4 million USD. The solar ATN also produces 98% lower CO2 and PM2.5 emissions compared to the Park & Ride shuttle bus. A team of experts including urban planners, architects, and engineers designed and visualized the conceptual prototype, including a comprehensive video explaining the need for solar ATN and what a typical rider would experience while utilizing the system. This research demonstrates both benefits and challenges for solar-powered ATN, as well as its functionality within the urban built environment to serve diverse San José neighborhoods

Increasing Short-Stay Unplanned Hospital Admissions among Children in England; Time Trends Analysis '97-'06

BACKGROUND: Timely care by general practitioners in the community keeps children out of hospital and provides better continuity of care. Yet in the UK, access to primary care has diminished since 2004 when changes in general practitioners' contracts enabled them to 'opt out' of providing out-of-hours care and since then unplanned pediatric hospital admission rates have escalated, particularly through emergency departments. We hypothesised that any increase in isolated short stay admissions for childhood illness might reflect failure to manage these cases in the community over a 10 year period spanning these changes. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We conducted a population based time trends study of major causes of hospital admission in children 2 days. By 2006, 67.3% of all unplanned admissions were isolated short stays <2 days. The increases in admission rates were greater for common non-infectious than infectious causes of admissions. CONCLUSIONS: Short stay unplanned hospital admission rates in young children in England have increased substantially in recent years and are not accounted for by reductions in length of in-hospital stay. The majority are isolated short stay admissions for minor illness episodes that could be better managed by primary care in the community and may be evidence of a failure of primary care services

Stable carbon isotopes of dissolved inorganic carbon for a zonal transect across the subpolar North Atlantic Ocean in summer 2014

The stable carbon isotope composition of dissolved inorganic carbon (δ13CDIC) in seawater was measured in samples collected during June–July 2014 in the subpolar North Atlantic. Sample collection was carried out on the RRS James Clark Ross cruise JR302, part of the “Radiatively Active Gases from the North Atlantic Region and Climate Change” (RAGNARoCC) research programme. The observed δ13CDIC values for cruise JR302 fall in a range from −0.07 to +1.95 ‰, relative to the Vienna Pee Dee Belemnite standard. From duplicate samples collected during the cruise, the 1σ precision for the 341 results is 0.08 ‰, which is similar to our previous work and other studies of this kind. We also performed a cross-over analysis using nearby historical δ13CDIC data, which indicated that there were no significant systematic offsets between our measurements and previously published results. We also included seawater reference material (RM) produced by A. G. Dickson (Scripps Institution of Oceanography, USA) in every batch of analysis, enabling us to improve upon the calibration and quality-control procedures from a previous study. The δ13CDIC is consistent within each RM batch, although its value is not certified. We report δ13CDIC values of 1.15 ± 0.03 ‰ and 1.27 ± 0.05 ‰ for batches 141 and 144 respectively. Our JR302 δ13CDIC data can be used – along with measurements of other biogeochemical variables – to constrain the processes that control DIC in the interior ocean, in particular the oceanic uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide and the biological carbon pump. Our δ13CDIC results are available from the British Oceanographic Data Centre – doi:10.5285/22235f1a-b7f3-687f-e053-6c86abc0c8a6

VC-Dimension of Hyperplanes over Finite Fields

Let $\mathbb{F}_q^d$ be the $d$-dimensional vector space over the finite field with $q$ elements. For a subset $E\subseteq \mathbb{F}_q^d$ and a fixed nonzero $t\in \mathbb{F}_q$, let $\mathcal{H}_t(E)=\{h_y: y\in E\}$, where $h_y$ is the indicator function of the set $\{x\in E: x\cdot y=t\}$. Two of the authors, with Maxwell Sun, showed in the case $d=3$ that if $|E|\geq Cq^{\frac{11}{4}}$ and $q$ is sufficiently large, then the VC-dimension of $\mathcal{H}_t(E)$ is 3. In this paper, we generalize the result to arbitrary dimension and improve the exponent in the case $d=3$.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figur

Low-Intrusion Techniques and Sensitive Information Management for Warhead Counting and Verification: FY2012 Annual Report

Progress in the second year of this project is described by the series of technical reports and manuscripts that make up the content of this report. These documents summarize successes in our goals to develop our robust image-hash templating and material-discrimination techniques and apply them to test image data

Western Diet-Fed, Aortic-Banded Ossabaw Swine: A Preclinical Model of Cardio-Metabolic Heart Failure.

The development of new treatments for heart failure lack animal models that encompass the increasingly heterogeneous disease profile of this patient population. This report provides evidence supporting the hypothesis that Western Diet-fed, aortic-banded Ossabaw swine display an integrated physiological, morphological, and genetic phenotype evocative of cardio-metabolic heart failure. This new preclinical animal model displays a distinctive constellation of findings that are conceivably useful to extending the understanding of how pre-existing cardio-metabolic syndrome can contribute to developing HF

Miscellaneous personal letters of Alex Lachlan Williams, 1894-1897

Miscellaneous personal letters from Geoffrey J. Judge of Zeehan in regard to repairs to T. Gibbins' shop, lack of mining jobs and mines "commencing to look up" dated 1 July and 19 August 1894. From James Duncan regarding the tenancy of Williams' property at Zeehan dated 12 September 1896. From Ada Proctor of Sandy Bay on hearing ALW was about to leave Hobart to thank him for all he did for her Aunt dated 29 August 1897. From E.A Lorkin of North Lyell regarding the lease, amalgamation, and section not complying with labour clause written on 18 October 1897. From J. McDonald of Strahan, correspondence regarding mill timber and accompanying list of measurements of logs dated 6 September 1897. These personal letters of Alex Lachlan Williams 1894-1897 are from the papers of Oscar Jones, solicitor of Murdoch & Jones Queenstown branch and his predecessor Alex Lachlan Williams, apparently found at Strathelie at Broadmarsh formerly the Jones family home. The Queenstown practice was established by Alex Lachlan Williams in 1896. Later Charles Page became a partner and established an office at Zeehan. George Murdoch of the Stone Buildings, Hobart, later Murdoch and Jones, acted as Hobart agent and early in 1898 the two firms merged as Williams and Page of Hobart, Queenstown and Zeehan. In April 1899, however, Williams sold out to Murdoch and Jones, Oscar Jones managed the Queenstown branch and by July the firm's name was changed to Murdoch & Jones. Williams & Page remained in Zeehan, under C.S. Page. Private Deposit Collection M14/13 1-