Study of Road Autonomous Delivery Robots and Their Potential Effects on Freight Efficiency and Travel

Author(s):  
Dylan Jennings ◽  
Miguel Figliozzi

Road autonomous mobile robots have attracted the attention of delivery companies and policy makers owing to their potential to reduce costs and increase urban freight efficiency. Established delivery companies and new startups are investing in technologies that reduce delivery times, increase delivery drivers’ productivity, or both. In this context, the adoption of road automatic (or autonomous) delivery robots (RADRs) has a growing appeal. Several RADRs are currently being tested in the United States. The key novel contributions of this research are: (a) an analysis of the characteristics and regulation of RADRs in the U.S. and (b) a study of the relative travel, time, and cost efficiencies that RADRs can bring about when compared to traditional van deliveries. The results show that RADRs can provide substantial cost savings in many scenarios, but in all cases at the expense of substantially higher vehicle miles per customer served. Unlike sidewalk autonomous delivery robots (SADRs), it is possible the RADRs will contribute significantly to additional vehicle miles per customer served.

Pneumonia ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bisma Ali Sayed ◽  
Drew L. Posey ◽  
Brian Maskery ◽  
La’Marcus T. Wingate ◽  
Martin S. Cetron

Abstract Background While persons who receive immigrant and refugee visas are screened for active tuberculosis before admission into the United States, nonimmigrant visa applicants (NIVs) are not routinely screened and may enter the United States with infectious tuberculosis. Objectives We evaluated the costs and benefits of expanding pre-departure tuberculosis screening requirements to a subset of NIVs who arrive from a moderate (Mexico) or high (India) incidence tuberculosis country with temporary work visas. Methods We developed a decision tree model to evaluate the program costs and estimate the numbers of active tuberculosis cases that may be diagnosed in the United States in two scenarios: 1) “Screening”: screening and treatment for tuberculosis among NIVs in their home country with recommended U.S. follow-up for NIVs at elevated risk of active tuberculosis; and, 2) “No Screening” in their home country so that cases would be diagnosed passively and treatment occurs after entry into the United States. Costs were assessed from multiple perspectives, including multinational and U.S.-only perspectives. Results Under “Screening” versus “No Screening”, an estimated 179 active tuberculosis cases and 119 hospitalizations would be averted in the United States annually via predeparture treatment. From the U.S.-only perspective, this program would result in annual net cost savings of about $3.75 million. However, rom the multinational perspective, the screening program would cost $151,388 per U.S. case averted for Indian NIVs and $221,088 per U.S. case averted for Mexican NIVs. Conclusion From the U.S.-only perspective, the screening program would result in substantial cost savings in the form of reduced treatment and hospitalization costs. NIVs would incur increased pre-departure screening and treatment costs.


Author(s):  
Robert I. Roth ◽  
Nicholas M. Fleischer

Recent years have seen the approvals, more so in the EU than the United States, of follow-on biological drugs. These products have been new formulations of recombinant therapeutic proteins, developed to compete with the marketed originator products. Intended to closely mimic the originator products in terms of chemistry and therapeutic properties, these so-called ‘biosimilar’ products were initially conceived to be developed according to abbreviated development programmes, presumably at a substantial cost savings to both the drug developer and the consumer. With several such products now recently approved, however, it has become clear that their development programmes have been quite extensive and not particularly abbreviated. Accordingly, cost savings to consumers appear to be relatively modest.


The authors perceive that institutionalized racial hierarchies are the greatest barrier to educational equity in the United States. While P-12 teachers may express the desire to make their classrooms spaces of joy, creativity, and intellectual brilliance, it is primarily through intentional skills development that teachers succeed. The authors assert the need for greater investments by school districts and teacher education programs in professional development for in-service P-12 teachers that further empower them and, in turn, their students, to contribute to the dismantling of racism in the U.S. Teacher educators, administrators and policy makers need to position themselves as cultivators and supporters of P-12 teachers in ways that encourage and sustain their antiracist advocacy and equity work in their teaching.


2010 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-394 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luzi Hail ◽  
Christian Leuz ◽  
Peter Wysocki

SYNOPSIS: This article is Part I of a two-part series analyzing the economic and policy factors related to the potential adoption of IFRS by the United States. In this part, we develop the conceptual framework for our analysis of potential costs and benefits from IFRS adoption in the United States. Drawing on the academic literature in accounting, finance, and economics, we assess the potential impact of IFRS adoption on the quality and comparability of U.S. reporting practices, the ensuing capital market effects, and the potential costs of switching from U.S. GAAP to IFRS. We also discuss the compatibility of IFRS with the current U.S. regulatory and legal environment, as well as the possible macroeconomic effects of IFRS adoption. Our analysis shows that the decision to adopt IFRS mainly involves a cost-benefit trade-off between (1) recurring, albeit modest, comparability benefits for investors; (2) recurring future cost savings that will largely accrue to multinational companies; and (3) one-time transition costs borne by all firms and the U.S. economy as a whole, including those from adjustments to U.S. institutions. In Part II of the series (see Hail et al. 2010), we provide an analysis of the policy factors related to the decision and present several scenarios for the future evolution of U.S. accounting standards in light of the current global movement toward IFRS.


2014 ◽  
Vol 124 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-54
Author(s):  
Candace M. Wilson ◽  
Olusegun Taylor ◽  
Andrzej Prystupa ◽  
Wojciech Załuska

Abstract Internal medicine physicians are critical to the health of the population. Internal medicine doctors also bring cost savings in health care because they treat many systems in the body and treat the patients in a holistic manner. However, the popularity of the specialty of internal medicine is declining. This is due to the decreased compensation that internal medicine doctors obtain when compared to their colleagues who specialize in other fields. The decline in number of physicians specializing in internal medicine causes a decrease in the health of the population. Governments and policy makers must look for ways to reverse the trend of doctors not specializing in internal medicine


Author(s):  
Raj Selladurai ◽  
George VandeWerken

High-speed rail is gaining momentum worldwide in many countries in the world including the United States and especially in the state of California, Florida, and Texas currently. Focusing on the list of topics below would enable readers including professionals, policy-makers, leaders, staff, academicians, scholars, and students to explore assignments and research into innovative ideas, plans, and strategies related to high-speed rail in the U.S. The chapter presents a list of topics that includes case studies, research questions, projects, and other suggestions to stimulate further research and explore assignments into more optimal formulation and implementation of high-speed rail for the U.S. in the future.


2006 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 203-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Garry D. Carnegie

This comment on a recent contribution by Fleischman and Radcliffe [2005], entitled “The Roaring Nineties: Accounting History Comes of Age,” specifically deals with their cautionary comments on the general condition of accounting history research in the U.S. around the close of that decade. The author contends that public interest in accounting's past is currently strong, especially following the recent corporate scandals and audit failures in the U.S., and points out that accounting history research projects which are of relevance to policy makers and regulators are likely to be both funded and, accordingly, recognized.


Author(s):  
Hyunmin Kim ◽  
Jade Setias

ABSTRACTObjectiveAlthough there have been studies showing the determinants of obesity, there have been relatively little attention paid to other factors such as mental health disorders like depression and chronic illnesses like hypertension. In addition, there exists a controversy over the association between hypertension and depression. Thus, we have investigated the associations among hypertension, depression, and obesity by adjusting age, gender, race, and socioeconomic status. The data was from the 2011 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES). MethodThis survey is conducted every year and in particular the data involves approximately 5,000 individuals of all ages in the United States, who completed the health examination component of the survey. We have utilized a logistic regression analysis to examine how hypertension, depression and obesity are associated one another. We have also used a proportional odds model to test how hypertension and depression may affect obesity. ResultThe main findings from the results of study are the following: first, being obese and feeling down, depressed or hopeless were associated with an increased likelihood of having hypertension and second, hypertension and depression may positively affect obesity. The findings suggest that as the determinants of obesity, depression and hypertension should be timely diagnosed and treated properly for considering the associations one another. By doing so, it can provide with the overall cost-savings and more importantly, people’s health.


2007 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
E. DeMichele ◽  
P. S. Machno ◽  
L. A. Stone

The U.S. National Biosolids Partnership (NBP), an alliance of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) and Water Environment Federation (WEF), was formed in 1997 in response to public acceptance issues dealing with biosolids management. The United States Congress provides funding to assist public agencies to improve existing biosolids management programs to maintain/achieve public support. The key to a successful program is systematic management and an independent third party audit to assure organizations are managing biosolids to meet the requirements of an excellent biosolids management program. The NBP program utilizes the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System principles. The program has defined 17 components of excellent biosolids management and the independent third party audit program. One hundred organizations are participating in the program and 16 agencies have been “certified” though a third party audit. The smallest agency serves a community of 200 people and the largest treats over a billion gallons a day. Participants are benefiting through cost savings, efficiencies and better public trust.


Author(s):  
Rosina Lozano

An American Language is a political history of the Spanish language in the United States. The nation has always been multilingual and the Spanish language in particular has remained as an important political issue into the present. After the U.S.-Mexican War, the Spanish language became a language of politics as Spanish speakers in the U.S. Southwest used it to build territorial and state governments. In the twentieth century, Spanish became a political language where speakers and those opposed to its use clashed over what Spanish's presence in the United States meant. This book recovers this story by using evidence that includes Spanish language newspapers, letters, state and territorial session laws, and federal archives to profile the struggle and resilience of Spanish speakers who advocated for their language rights as U.S. citizens. Comparing Spanish as a language of politics and as a political language across the Southwest and noncontiguous territories provides an opportunity to measure shifts in allegiance to the nation and exposes differing forms of nationalism. Language concessions and continued use of Spanish is a measure of power. Official language recognition by federal or state officials validates Spanish speakers' claims to US citizenship. The long history of policies relating to language in the United States provides a way to measure how U.S. visions of itself have shifted due to continuous migration from Latin America. Spanish-speaking U.S. citizens are crucial arbiters of Spanish language politics and their successes have broader implications on national policy and our understanding of Americans.


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