Employee Stock Options: A Standard Setting Saga

In this case, you will examine one of the most dramatic standard-setting sagas of our time: the setting of accounting standards related to employee stock options (ESOs). In particular, you will explore the important issues addressed by each standard, as well as the subsequent challenges that developed—which, in turn, led to the issuance of even more accounting guidance

Modeling and understanding the implications of future truck technology scenarios for performance-based freight corridor planning

Autonomous highway vehicles are coming. The question regarding this technology has shifted from “if” to “when”. Many advocates predict that autonomous trucks, in particular, will be commercially available within the next decade, and perhaps even before autonomous passenger vehicles. This includes the emergence of autonomous and connected multi-vehicle truck platoons. Unfortunately, this technology is developing more rapidly than the public sector is preparing for it; the situation is exacerbated by the fact that the timeframe for which the technology is expected to make up a substantial portion of the motor vehicle fleet is within the current planning horizon of most transportation planning agencies. Thus, there is an immediate need to explore the implications of this technology for public agency planning purposes; exploring these implications will in turn require the development of tools to quantify the potential costs and benefits involved. With these needs in mind, the objectives of this dissertation were to (1) develop a simulation modeling and performance measurement tool that incorporates autonomous and connected truck platooning technology into the long-range planning process, (2) demonstrate how this tool can be applied to a selected interstate corridor in Georgia (I-85 and I-285), and (3) develop a scenario planning framework that uses the results from the tool to guide policy development. The model consists of an iteratively linked, supply-demand equilibrium based multi-commodity and multi-vehicle class truck trip distribution and a highway traffic assignment model, requiring changes be made to the typical travel demand modeling process to capture the characteristics of platooning technology. The results from an empirical application of this model were then used to assess the safety-, economic-, congestion-, and emissions-related impacts of platooning technology. The model developed is flexible enough to allow for a number of variations in platooning details, and was supported by a multi-variable sensitivity analysis of key input variables. This sensitivity analysis showed a range of costs and benefits of the technology, with the greatest benefits seen when labor costs were cut by allowing some of the trucks to be driverless (which would also help to alleviate a currently significant shortage of experienced truck drivers). Allowing the autonomous trucks to operate on a dedicated lane was found to tremendously reduce travel time and congestion for those trucks. However, the magnitude of cost savings depends on a variety of factors, including the deployment of platoons of different sizes, the potential for platoon-supported fuel savings, and the level of corridor traffic congestion. In some scenarios, these congestion benefits came at the expense of the convenience of other vehicles, while in other scenarios, these vehicles experienced modest congestion-reduction benefits. The emissions impacts varied; the benefits for fuel consumption and emissions for platoons were as much as 9.6% at optimal speeds. While these findings are insightful, it is important to note that they are based on a specific set of assumptions and do not consider infrastructure costs related to the implementation of the technology. Changing the assumptions in some cases could significantly change the results. This research is one of the first efforts to modify a traditional travel demand model to simulate autonomous truck platoons. One of the key components of this contribution is the use of an origin-user equilibrium (OUE) traffic assignment, a relatively new path-based assignment which allows the user to specify vehicle class and origin specific traffic flows, and assign them to the network simultaneously. The OUE assignment has yet to be explored in depth with respect to multiple truck class-based, notably platoon-inclusive freight movements. Additionally, the research presents a new application of the Freight Analysis Framework, which is a widely used freight database within the United States. Given the uncertainty associated with platooning technology, there are a number of limitations associated with this research, and the final chapter of this dissertation discusses such limitations and presents opportunities for future work. As the details of platooning technology become clearer, tools such as the one developed here can assist transportation planners with incorporating such technological advances into their planning processes.Ph.D

Extreme sacrifice: sudden cardiac death in the US Fire Service

Firefighting is a hazardous profession which has claimed on average the lives of 105 US firefighters per year for the past decade. The leading cause of line-of-duty mortality is sudden cardiac death, which accounts for approximately 45% of all firefighter duty-related fatalities. Strenuous physical activity, emotional stress, and environmental pollutants all strain the cardiovascular system, and each can increase the risk of sudden cardiac events in susceptible individuals. Sudden cardiac death is more likely to occur during or shortly after emergency duties such as fire suppression, despite the fact that these duties comprise a relatively small proportion of firefighters' annual duties. Additionally, cardiac events are more likely to occur in firefighters who possess an excess of traditional risk factors for cardiovascular disease along with underlying atherosclerosis and/or structural heart disease. In this review, we propose a theoretical model for the interaction between underlying cardiovascular disease in firefighters and the multifactorial physiological strain of firefighting

“I’m comfortable with it”: User stories of health information on Wikipedia

Applying a critical-constructivist approach, 21 semi-structured interviews conducted from June to October 2021 were analyzed thematically. Qualitative analysis suggests that users reported that Wikipedia’s health content can facilitate personal agency, is familiar and convenient to access, and that individuals’ trust in Wikipedia is contextual, conditional, and framed by their personal experiences

It’s Time to Recognize Wikipedia as a Health Information Resource

Editorial: Patient Education ColumnWith more than 300 language editions, Wikipedia offers accessible health information written in plain language to a wide audience. Having survived more than twenty years, it is broadly considered the “grown-up” of the internet due to its sheer longevity and maturity. Along with evidence that Wikipedia is more reliable than widely believed, it has emerged as the most frequently accessed web site for health information despite a lingering stigma. Grounded in real-life examples of health events, the author reinforces Wikipedia as a tool for public health education. With wider acceptance of Wikipedia as a health information resource, existing opportunities for education, investment, and improvement of the world’s largest encyclopedia can be cultivated

Accounting For Employee Stock Options With Service, Performance, And Market Conditions

The accounting for employee stock options has long been a subject of debate among executives, regulators, and standard-setters. The accounting standard passed by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) in 2004 allows for more creative design of these types of options. In this case, students learn about employee stock options with service, performance, and market conditions. They also learn how to value options with these conditions, and how to report them on company income statements under the new accounting guidance

Evidence for cospatial optical and radio polarized emission in active galactic nuclei

We investigate the relationship between the optical and radio emission of active galactic nuclei (AGN) by analysing optical and 15+22+43 GHz Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) polarization observations simultaneous to within a day for 11 BL Lacertae (BL Lac) objects and the blazar 3C279. We have determined and corrected for the Faraday rotation measures in the very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) cores, enabling us to compare the intrinsic (zero-wavelength) VLBI-core polarization angles and the optical polarization angles chi(opt). A clear alignment between these two angles emerges in the transition toward higher radio frequencies, and a prominent peak at 0 degrees is visible in the distribution of |chi(opt) - chi(43 GHz)|. This correlation implies that the magnetic-field orientations in the regions giving rise to the optical and radio polarization are the same, and can be easily understood if the radio and optical polarization are roughly cospatial. It is difficult to rule out the possibility that they arise in different regions in a straight jet with a uniform magnetic-field structure, but this seems less likely, since the VLBI jets of AGN are often bent on parsec-scales. This may suggest that much or all of the strong optical polarization in these sources arises in the inner radio jets, possibly associated with the formation and emergence of compact new VLBI components