Search results

Deals with the development of a control system for fabric pick‐and‐place operators based on the Clupicker device. Fabric mechanical properties are analysed for their influence on the motions performed in picking up fabric pieces from a stack. The performance of the picking device on various woven fabrics has been studied. A stepping motor drive to the crank of the Clupicker enabled us to control the normal force applied by the picking wheel on the fabric stack. By controlling the normal force we could make the Clupicker perform well for fabrics with very different properties. A linear regression was found between the minimum normal force required for effective performance of the picker and bending rigidity of the fabric.

Low‐stress mechanical properties of fabrics are very important in many applications as well as in manufacturing process control. Discusses the importance and potential applications of an on‐line mechanical property measurement system. In addition, the working principles of existing off‐ line fabric bending testers have been critically reviewed. It is suggested that the principle of a future on‐line system to evaluate fabric bending behaviour should be based on the characterisation of fabric loop shapes.

GASB Statement No. 34 required state and local governments to report information regarding general infrastructure in financial statements, to improve understanding of the organization's investments in capital assets. Some proponents suggested that this information would affect management practices and potentially resource allocation decisions, but initial survey data found limited evidence of effects. We use dynamic panel analysis covering 47 states from 1995 to 2009 to explore whether implementation of GASB 34 affected state highway capital and maintenance spending. We find evidence of increased capital spending, but no statistically significant change in maintenance expenditures. The choice of reporting method was not found to affect spending outcomes.

This paper documents the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) 34 literature, primarily in the areas of (1) accountability and improved reporting, (2) government-wide financial statements and accrual accounting and (3) infrastructure asset capitalization and the modified approach. The paper also evaluates the state of the research, recognizes implications for practice and standard setting, identifies knowledge gaps and proposes avenues for future research.

The authors identified the articles in this narrative review by searching Google Scholar and EBSCO for the years 2000 through 2023, using the keywords GASB 34, government-wide financial statements, government fund statements, infrastructure assets and modified approach.

This review finds that GASB 34 requirements improved accountability and reporting, but GASB can still make improvements. The addition of the MD&A section requirement improved readability but placed a burden on preparers. Analysis of government-wide statement research indicates that the accrual-based Statement of Net Assets provides value in credit decisions, while the accrual-based Statement of Activities does not. The research on infrastructure accounting requirements shows limited adoption of the modified approach and some comparability issues with choices involving capitalization thresholds, baselines and asset management systems (AMSs). Based on this review, the authors also present suggestions to further this line of research.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first article that reviews over 20 years of GASB 34 related literature. The review and suggestions for future research are timely as GASB is in the process of reexamining some of GASB 34's requirements.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate whether the additional infrastructure information in US state financial statements improves infrastructure quality.

Based on institutional theory, the authors developed six models and estimated them on a state panel data set.

The authors found that the implementation of the Government Accounting Standard Board (GASB) Statement No. 34 improved state highway infrastructure quality, and the states using the modified approach had a larger effect compared to the states using depreciation accounting. The authors further used a two-step path analysis and found that the implementation of GASB 34 indirectly improved highway quality through increasing state highway maintenance expenditures. From the empirical results, the authors conclude that the exercise of collecting and developing systems to track the additional data has provided the opportunity for officials to use the information to prioritize limited funding and improve their asset management practices.

Future research may extend this research by exploring the detailed micro-mechanisms of how decision makers use infrastructure information in their asset management practices, as well as by increasing the number of years in the panel data set to fully capture changes in behavior.

In addition, governments currently using depreciation should be encouraged to move to the modified approach.

This is the first attempt to empirically examine the effects of GASB 34 on infrastructure condition.