12/16/2016· Neuropsychology
Plaintiffs and other petitioners often sue for damages due to reported cognitive or emotional impairment. These impairments are often said to be the result of traumatic brain injury suffered in accidents or toxic exposures or due to medical procedures. Such impairments can often be subtle, not easily understood by nonprofessionals, but still claimed to have changed a person's life.
11/23/2016· Plants & Trees
Different Types of Tree Care Professionals
There are many terms in use describing different types of tree care professionals and this can cause considerable confusion for a homeowner or property manager who requires a tree care provider. The information below will hopefully provide some clarity on the topic.
11/9/2016· Transportation
The Arrival of Self Driving Cars in the Mix of Traffic
By: Richard Beaubien
As traffic engineers we take care to plan, design, and operate our roads for all users. When we are working in a complex urban environment, we must consider pedestrians, wheelchairs, vision impaired, bicycles, buses, and trucks. When we add automated, connected, and self-driving vehicles to the mix the complexity becomes more complex. That is why the profession is challenging and interesting.
11/5/2016· Medical Malpractice
Physician Assistant and Nurse Practitioner Malpractice Trends
Trends in malpractice awards and adverse actions (e.g., revocation of provider license) following an act or omission constituting medical error or negligence were examined. The National Practitioner Data Bank was used to compare rates of malpractice reports and adverse actions for physicians, physician assistants (PAs), and nurse practitioners (NPs). During 2005 through 2014, there ranged from 11.2 to 19.0 malpractice payment reports per 1,000 physicians, 1.4 to 2.4 per 1,000 PAs, and 1.1 to 1.4 per 1,000 NPs. Physician median payments ranged from 1.3 to 2.3 times higher than PAs or NPs. Diagnosis-related malpractice allegations varied by provider type, with physicians having significantly fewer reports (31.9%) than PAs (52.8%) or NPs (40.6%) over the observation period. Trends in malpractice payment reports may reflect policy enactments to decrease liability.
10/26/2016· Construction
Independent Safety Professionals, Or "It's All Good, I Can Handle It!"
By: Greg Gerganoff
During a recent conversation with a friend who had purchased a small construction company he mentioned in passing that one of his employees had injured his ankle on the job but didn't report it to his work comp carrier as it was a minor incident, no days off work, didn't want his rates to go up, why bother. All is good. Right?
10/10/2016· Psychiatry
Comparison of Psychiatrists and Psychologists in Clinical Practice
Objective: The authors compared data from psychiatrists and psychologists in California to determine whether long-standing differences in clinical practice remain after the introduction of managed care and other changes in mental service delivery. Methods: Responses from practicing clinicians in California who participated in the 1998 National Survey of Psychiatric Practice and the 2000 California Survey of Psychological Practice were compared on items related to patient caseload, practice profile, and insurance or reimbursement arrangements.
10/10/2016· Banking
Strategic Planning: New Views of an Old Process
Strategic planning has always been an important function of the board of directors, but it takes on an even more critical role when under the regulatory microscope. The OCC announced that, for the remainder of 2016, it will continue to focus on strategic risk, as banks change their business models to adapt to innovative products and services.
9/26/2016· Environment
Just Who Is At Risk? The Ethics of Environmental Regulation
By: Dr. Ted Simon
The willingness to view risk as part of daily life has vanished. A risk-averse mindset among environmental regulators engenders confusion between the ethics of intention and the ethics of consequence, leading to the elevation of the precautionary principle with unintended and often unfortunate outcomes. Environmental risk assessment is conservative, but the actual level of conservatism cannot be determined. High-end exposure assumptions and current toxicity criteria from the USEPA, based on linear extrapolation for carcinogens and default uncertainty factors for systemic toxicants, obscure the degree of conservatism in risk assessments. Ideally, one could choose a percentile of the target population to include within environmental standards, but this choice is complicated by the food, pharmaceutical and advertising industries, whose activities, inadvertent or not, often promote maladaptive and unhealthy lifestyle choices.
9/13/2016· Accounting
Royalty Audits - Compliance With AICPA Standards
By: Sidney Blum
Royalty auditing is a niche service that has exploded in popularity over the last 20 years. The primary purpose of a royalty audit is to test whether a licensee has complied with a license agreement or statutory requirement. The royalty auditor is hired by an intellectual property owner (aka, licensor) or minerals owner to inspect the books and records of a licensee primarily to determine if usage-based monetary amounts have been paid as contractually required. In addition to monetary damage calculations, most royalty audits examine for breach of contract in a wide variety of areas, such as intellectual property protection, record keeping, distribution channels, and permitted usage.
8/19/2016· Transportation
Buses and Motorcoaches: The Case for Mandatory Sleep Apnea Testing, Part 2
By: Ned Einstein
The notion of "screening" driver-candidates for Sleep Apnea screening is not merely unsupportable, it is a delusion. In 2011, 517 truck drivers in Australia were tested for Obstructive Sleep Apnea ("Assessing Sleepiness and Sleep Disorder in Truck Drivers" in SLEEP, 2011). According to an anonymous self-evaluation questionnaire (a "multivariable apnea prediction index, based on self-report measures"), only 12% felt they had it, while roughly 4.4% had tested positive for it. Yet when all of them were tested, 41% more of them had this condition. The testing also found that a full 50% of the study participants were obese, and 49% of them smoked cigarettes. Neither of these parameters are included among the handful of criteria currently employed by either the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's or Federal Railway Administration's "recommended" screening exercise -- although, In fairness, the size-17 male neck (or size 16 female neck) serves as a proxy for obesity. At the same time, as noted below, it also captures plenty of "false positives."
