A Tax on Light and Air: Impact of the Window Duty on Tax Administration and Architecture, 1696-1851

It is not at all uncommon for readers of eighteenth and nineteenth century British history to stumble across references to the Window Tax buried within accounts of more notable measures and events of the period. Descriptions of the tax are often trivial, inserted to provide color and context, to demonstrate the peculiarity—at least from a modern viewpoint—of the earlier English tax system and its cultural repercussions. Historians writing about this period frequently include a sentence or two relating the grievances of British homeowners who boarded or bricked up windows to evade the tax. Few bother to enumerate, however, the larger, indirect consequences of the Duty on Lights and Windows, or even explain why it was imposed in the first place.1 There are only a handful of scholarly articles on the subject and hardly anything original written on theWindow tax within the last fifty years. W.R. Ward’s lone article, “The Administration of the Window and Assessed Taxes, 1696-1798,”2 published in The English Historical Review in 1952 and a chapter from Stephen Dowell’s A History of Taxation and Taxes in England, printed as early as 1884, remain the two most important secondary sources on the tax for modern scholars

The secret world of shrimps: polarisation vision at its best

Animal vision spans a great range of complexity, with systems evolving to detect variations in optical intensity, distribution, colour, and polarisation. Polarisation vision systems studied to date detect one to four channels of linear polarisation, combining them in opponent pairs to provide intensity-independent operation. Circular polarisation vision has never been seen, and is widely believed to play no part in animal vision. Polarisation is fully measured via Stokes' parameters--obtained by combined linear and circular polarisation measurements. Optimal polarisation vision is the ability to see Stokes' parameters: here we show that the crustacean \emph{Gonodactylus smithii} measures the exact components required. This vision provides optimal contrast-enhancement, and precise determination of polarisation with no confusion-states or neutral-points--significant advantages. We emphasise that linear and circular polarisation vision are not different modalities--both are necessary for optimal polarisation vision, regardless of the presence of strongly linear or circularly polarised features in the animal's environment.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, 2 table

Passive tobacco exposure may impair symptomatic improvement in patients with chronic angina undergoing enhanced external counterpulsation

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The adverse effects of tobacco abuse on cardiovascular outcomes are well-known. However, the impact of passive smoke exposure on angina status and therapeutic response is less well-established. We examined the impact of second-hand smoke (SHS) exposure on symptomatic improvement in patients with chronic ischemic coronary disease undergoing enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This observational study included 1,026 non-smokers (108 exposed and 918 not-exposed to SHS) from the Second International EECP Patient Registry. We also assessed angina response in 363 current smokers. Patient demographics, symptomatic improvement and quality of life assessment were determined by self-report prior and after EECP treatment.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Non-smoking SHS subjects had a lower prevalence of prior revascularization (85% vs 90%), and had an increased prevalence of stroke (13% vs 7%) and prior smoking (72% vs 61%; all p < 0.05) compared to non-smokers without SHS exposure. Despite comparable degrees of coronary disease, baseline angina class, medical regimens and side effects during EECP, fewer SHS non-smokers completed a full 35-hour treatment course (77% vs 85%, p = 0.020) compared to non-smokers without SHS. Compared to non-smokers without SHS, non-smoking SHS subjects had less angina relief after EECP (angina class decreased ≥ 1 class: 68% vs 79%; p = 0.0082), both higher than that achieved in current smokers (66%). By multivariable logistic regression, SHS exposure was an independent predictor of failure to symptomatic improvement after EECP among non-smokers (OR 1.81, 95% confidence intervals 1.16–2.83).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Non-smokers with SHS exposure had an attenuated improvement in anginal symptoms compared to those without SHS following EECP.</p

Evidence and perceptions of rainfall change in Malawi: Do maize cultivar choices enhance climate change adaptation in sub-Saharan Africa?

Getting farmers to adopt new cultivars with greater tolerance for coping with climatic extremes and variability is considered as one way of adapting agricultural production to climate change. However, for successful adaptation to occur, an accurate recognition and understanding of the climate signal by key stakeholders (farmers, seed suppliers and agricultural extension services) is an essential precursor. This paper presents evidence based on fieldwork with smallholder maize producers and national seed network stakeholders in Malawi from 2010 to 2011, assessing understandings of rainfall changes and decision-making about maize cultivar choices. Our findings show that preferences for short-season maize cultivars are increasing based on perceptions that season lengths are growing shorter due to climate change and the assumption that growing shorter-season crops represents a good strategy for adapting to drought. However, meteorological records for the two study areas present no evidence for shortening seasons (or any significant change to rainfall characteristics), suggesting that short-season cultivars may not be the most suitable adaptation option for these areas. This demonstrates the dangers of oversimplified climate information in guiding changes in farmer decision-making about cultivar choice

Three Steps Forward, Two Steps Back: Tobacco Policy Making in Nebraska

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY • In 2002, 22.7% of Nebraskans over the age of 18 were current smokers, accounting for approximately 389,000 smokers. • Since 1995, the prevalence of adult tobacco use in Nebraska has remained about 1 percentage point below the national average, but per capita tobacco consumption in Nebraska has been falling more slowly than the Unites States as whole. • The tobacco industry has directly been a major political force in Nebraska through lobbying and campaign contributions. The tobacco industry spent over $1,027,000 on lobbying from 1997-2002. The tobacco industry made direct campaign contributions to the members of the 2003- 2004 Nebraska Legislature totaling almost$93,000 over the course of their legislative careers. • Only 20 of the 49 members of the 2003-2004 Legislature have never accepted money from the tobacco industry. • The tobacco industry has also worked to increase its political influence in Nebraska by recruiting, often through financial contributions, third-party allies such as the Nebraska Restaurant Association, the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce, the Nebraska Retail Grocers Association, the Nebraska Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association, the Nebraska Retail Federation, the Nebraska Association of Tobacco and Candy Distributors and the Nebraska Licensed Beverage Association. • Despite opposition from the tobacco industry and its allies and the lack of a well-established grassroots tobacco control community, Nebraska was an early leader in passing statewide clean indoor air laws. Due largely to the efforts of state Senator Shirley Marsh, the Nebraska Legislature passed its first clean indoor air law in 1974, only one year after Arizona passed the first law in the nation that required smoking restrictions in some public places. • In 1979, the Nebraska Legislature passed the Nebraska Clean Indoor Air Act, which was sponsored by state Senator Larry Stoney. The Nebraska Clean Indoor Air Act was stronger than similar legislation that was proposed in New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts at the same time. The tobacco industry and its allies responded by mobilizing against the implementing rules and regulations for the Act and succeeded in weakened these regulations. • The Nebraska Clean Indoor Air Act was not strengthened for 20 years until 1999 when the Legislature passed a bill that required that almost all state buildings and vehicles become smokefree. • From 2000 -2003, the Legislature also strengthened the Nebraska Clean Indoor Air Act by requiring that commercial daycare facilities be smokefree and extending its enforcement provisions to include business owners. • From 1999-2004, the Nebraska Legislature has rejected three different attempts by state Senator Nancy Thompson to make restaurants throughout Nebraska smokefree. • Using tobacco settlement money, in 2000, the Nebraska Legislature approved $7 million per year for three years to increase funding for a preexisting state tobacco control program, Tobacco Free Nebraska. • Due to pressure from tobacco control advocates, the Nebraska Legislature approved a$0.30 cigarette excise tax increase in 2002, but the Legislature was only willing to pass this increase during a budget crisis and no earmark was provided for tobacco control. • Citing budget concerns in 2003, the Legislature cut funding for Tobacco Free Nebraska from $7 million per year to$405,000, despite several different options for continuing funding for tobacco control. • In 2003, the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department led the push to pass Nebraska first comprehensive smokefree workplaces ordinances, but due to pressure from the tobacco industry and its allies, the Lincoln City Council passed a weakened and confusing ordinance that exempted bars and allowed separately ventilated “smoking rooms.” • Tobacco control advocates have made progress in Nebraska, but they have not yet mobilized the political resources necessary to avoid suffering significant defeats at the hands of the tobacco industry