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Description
Substance use disorders account for billions of dollars annually in emergency and inpatient healthcare, not taking into account the healthcare costs of the disorders with which substance use disorders are associated with increased risks of developing. However, while treatment for these disorders shows a decreasing action on health costs, a low percentage of affected individuals receive treatment, despite many insurance payers providing coverage for treatments of this nature. Thus, this maintains the issues under the current healthcare system of mitigatable, generally higher, healthcare costs and increased health risks for individuals with substance use disorders.
ContributorsWelsh, Isabelle (Author) / Zhou, Hongjuan (Thesis director) / Milovanovic, Jelena (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor)
Created2022-05
Description
This thesis seeks to examine a nascent topic pertinent to the future of investment reporting to participants in global capital markets: cryptocurrency reporting. In the age of investor freedom, low to zero brokerage fees, and digital ‘do-it-yourself’ investing, many investors and investing platforms have adopted the use of digital currencies. Since its inception in 2009, cryptocurrency has been surrounded by controversy, which impacted financial institutions holding it, companies using it in transactions, and investors trading it. With cryptocurrency’s inherent volatility and relatively little accounting guidance, these stakeholders have faced difficulty in making capital allocation decisions, properly recording their holdings and transactions, and learning how to engage in activities involving cryptocurrency. Moreover, cryptocurrency has caught the attention of market regulators due to these same factors.
Our project directly addresses this topic and explores the accounting implications of using cryptocurrency based on currently available authoritative and non-authoritative guidance. We further examine the need for authoritative reporting guidance, the regulatory bodies responsible for prescribing reporting guidance, and potential recommendations for future accounting standards. We begin by defining cryptocurrency and distinguishing it from other digital assets in Section 2. In Section 3, we discuss the risks presented by digital currencies and their inherent volatility. In Section 4, we describe the ways in which businesses currently use, treat, and interact with cryptocurrency from both transactional and accounting perspectives. In Section 5, we review, consolidate, and present the current guidance on digital currencies from the Big 4 accounting firms. In Section 6, we investigate the cryptocurrency disclosures of five large public US companies through an analysis of their annual reports. In Section 7, we research the FASB and SEC and their standard-setting processes to determine which organization is best suited to provide guidance on cryptocurrency reporting. As part of this task, we consider the role of these two regulatory agencies, their views and attitudes toward cryptocurrencies, and their jurisdictions over this area of financial reporting. This examination involves regulatory and public policy research, to understand the standard-setting process within the applicable regulatory body. Finally, in Section 8, we directly engage in the standard-setting process by drafting a comment letter to the FASB which includes the results of our research, the necessity (or lack thereof) for authoritative reporting guidance, and key issues that the Board should consider.
ContributorsCady, Kendall (Author) / Hayward, David (Co-author) / Rykaczewski, Maria (Thesis director) / Golden, Russell (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor)
Created2022-05
Description
Four-dimensionalism is a popular philosophical view of how we persist through time. However, some philosophers, such as Mark Johnston and Eric Olson, argue that four-dimensionalism has perverse implications on our practical ethics. This is because, if four-dimensionalism is true, then there exist entities called personites. And if personites exist, then many of the ordinary prudential, social, and moral habits we engage in, like present self-sacrifice for future benefit, promising to do something painful in the future, or being held responsible for something the we did in the past, subjects personites to suffering without sufficient compensation, consent, or desert. And this would be immoral according to our common-sense morality. In this paper, I argue that if four-dimensionalism is true, and personites exist, then we are still morally permitted to engage in the above practices. If four-dimensionalism turns out to be true, it has no perverse implications on how we ought to live.
ContributorsRavi, Ashwin (Author) / Portmore, Douglas (Thesis director) / Calhoun, Cheshire (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies, Sch (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor)
Created2022-05
Description
Our thesis focuses on sports medicine and specific rehabilitation techniques, specifically Cupping, Scraping/Graston, and Normatec. It highlights the aspects of marketing and bioscience/health for these various sports medicine rehabilitation techniques. We highlighted how these are marketed, such as what they are advertised to do, while researching the health benefits and results of the techniques, and if these techniques produced the best recovery effects, and are effective, for athletes.
ContributorsWeintraub, Lauren (Author) / Keever, Tabitha (Co-author) / Eaton, John (Thesis director) / Mokwa, Michael (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor)
Created2022-05
Description
This paper examines the decreasing affordability of single-family residential homes across the United States, with a special emphasis on Maricopa and Pinal County, Arizona. A historical analysis was conducted on the single-family residential property sector utilizing Federal Reserve and local government data. An affordability model is developed to demonstrate income thresholds needed to afford a median priced home in Maricopa and Pinal County, while a factor model is developed to predict the economic shifts needed to rectify this issue. My findings suggest that single-family homes have reached peak prices and are not affordable for the average American, based on median income. This housing crisis is the result of many economic factors, including but not limited to: below-average homebuilding, the lock-in effect, excessively cheap monetary policy, mortgages rates, and housing inflation. This is an unprecedented time in our nation’s history, placing tremendous pressure on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) and Congress to tackle this issue. A closing recommendation will discuss the outlook for the single family residential sector.
ContributorsNunez, Christian (Author) / Koblenz, Blair (Thesis director) / Stapp, Mark (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor)
Created2024-05
ContributorsNunez, Christian (Author) / Koblenz, Blair (Thesis director) / Stapp, Mark (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor)
ContributorsNunez, Christian (Author) / Koblenz, Blair (Thesis director) / Stapp, Mark (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor)
Description
This thesis details a Python-based software designed to calculate the Jones polynomial,
a vital mathematical tool from Knot Theory used for characterizing the topological and
geometrical complexity of curves in 3-space, which is essential in understanding physical
systems of filaments, including the behavior of polymers and biopolymers. The Jones
polynomial serves as a topological invariant capable of distinguishing between different
knot structures. This capability is fundamental to characterizing the architecture of
molecular chains, such as proteins and DNA. Traditional computational methods for
deriving the Jones polynomial have been limited by closure-schemes and high execu-
tion costs, which can be impractical for complex structures like those that appear in
real life. This software implements methods that significantly reduce calculation times,
allowing for more efficient and practical applications in the study of biological poly-
mers. It utilizes a divide-and-conquer approach combined with parallel computing and
applies recursive Reidemeister moves to optimize the computation, transitioning from
an exponential to a near-linear runtime for specific configurations. This thesis provides
an overview of the software’s functions, detailed performance evaluations using protein
structures as test cases, and a discussion of the implications for future research and
potential algorithmic improvements.
ContributorsMusfeldt, Caleb (Author) / Panagiotou, Eleni (Thesis director) / Richa, Andrea (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies, Sch (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
In this paper, a novel model of Hotelling duopoly is introduced that explains horizontal product variety as the result of consumer preferences, expanding on and meshing the works of Hotelling (1929) and Neven (1985). From this model, two opposing forces from consumer preferences are found that impact the variety and price decisions of firms: market share revenues and price revenues. As firms face consumers with highly linear (weak) preferences over variety, the profit incentive is to simply capture the market by offering products that appeal to the middle consumer. However, as firms face consumers with highly quadratic (strong) preferences over variety, the profit incentive is to carve out and exploit a market segment by offering a distinct variety. Thus, observed product variety between minimal and maximal differentiation is emergent from consumer preferences, as firms face a balance of price and market share incentives.
ContributorsMalaki, Adam (Author) / Leiva Bertran, Fernando (Thesis director) / Hanemann, Michael (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / School for the Future of Innovation in Society (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
This project examines entry-level processors for Company X. Analyzing their current position and creating recommendations for their future positioning in regard to entry-level processors. Utilizing financial models, our group worked to determine the most effective way to optimize NPV and gross margin for this segment. With extensive step models and sensitivity analysis, we analyzed potential paths that Company X could take. Continuing to be mindful of the limitations that certain projected paths would entail. Through our analysis, we were able to form a comprehensive suggestion that had a positive 8-year NPV and an improved gross margin percentage.
ContributorsJones, Ciara (Author) / Kuo, Ian (Co-author) / Mathias, Chase (Co-author) / Huseinovic, Ayla (Co-author) / Simonson, Mark (Thesis director) / Hertzel, Michael (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor)
Created2024-05