Technical assistance for law-enforcement communications: Grant summary

A summary overview of project activities and results are presented. The goals and objectives are reviewed and a description of the approaches used to attain them is given. The feedback received from the seminars conducted as part of the project, and results from a questionnaire about the project are included. Significant findings of the project in such areas as radio channel loading, dispatch system design, training and technology transfer are discussed. Several specific problem areas are identified and evaluated. Specific recommendations for future technical assistance efforts are presented along with an inventory of technical-assistance reports generated throughout the project

Satellite personal communications system

Voice channel communication between low power mobile stations dispersed over a large area is provided by a system which includes a geostationary satellite utilizing a large UHF antenna that can receive a transmission from a caller and retransmit it over any one beam of a matrix of narrow beams, so the chosen beam covers an area in which a designated called party is located. A single up-link control channel occupying a narrow frequency band, can be utilized to receive dial up signals from a caller, and another single down link control channel can be utilized to ring up the called party located anywhere within the continental United States. The satellite antenna includes a matrix of feed horns that not only direct the beams in a controlled matrix onto the area of the continental United States, but also permit detection of the region from which the caller's signal is transmitted and the region from which the called party's answer is received, to enable the interconnection of signals received from these two regions. The system is particularly useful for rural areas

Consumption smoothing and the measured regressivity of consumption taxes

In this article, we address two questions. First, how will a move to pure consumption taxation matter for aggregate outcomes? Second, how regressive are consumption taxes? We find as follows. First, a move to a consumption tax will increase savings taken into retirement but will not alter either labor supply or consumption variability substantially. Second, we show that regressivity is a measure that is quantitatively sensitive to the frequency of income being used. In particular, we show that when measures of tax incidence are based on annual income, successful consumption smoothing leads to the appearance of high regressivity. Our preferred measure, which is based on lifetime earnings, shows that consumption taxes are proportional taxes.Taxation ; Consumption (Economics)

Dams and Large Scale Irrigation on the Senegal River. Impacts on Man and the Environment

human development, water, sanitation

Resource Allocation Planning Helper (RALPH): Lessons learned

The current task of Resource Allocation Process includes the planning and apportionment of JPL's Ground Data System composed of the Deep Space Network and Mission Control and Computing Center facilities. The addition of the data driven, rule based planning system, RALPH, has expanded the planning horizon from 8 weeks to 10 years and has resulted in large labor savings. Use of the system has also resulted in important improvements in science return through enhanced resource utilization. In addition, RALPH has been instrumental in supporting rapid turn around for an increased volume of special what if studies. The status of RALPH is briefly reviewed and important lessons learned from the creation of an highly functional design team are focused on through an evolutionary design and implementation period in which an AI shell was selected, prototyped, and ultimately abandoned, and through the fundamental changes to the very process that spawned the tool kit. Principal topics include proper integration of software tools within the planning environment, transition from prototype to delivered to delivered software, changes in the planning methodology as a result of evolving software capabilities and creation of the ability to develop and process generic requirements to allow planning flexibility

Technical assistance for law-enforcement communications: Case study report

Methods developed to improve police communications systems are described. Use of queueing analysis shows several ways of improving time of response to inquiries made from the field for license plate checks and for information on current wants and warrants, through a state multiple switcher network. Design criteria for more efficient centralized switching equipment are developed. A message load problem experienced in a dispatch center is analyzed, showing that communications could be improved by adding communications channels, not by adding people

Evaluating the effect of the electoral system in post-coup Fiji

In 1997, Fiji’s Constitution Review Commission (CRC) produced a voluminous proposal for constitutional reform, The Fiji Islands: Towards a United Future, which recommended that Fiji move ‘gradually but decisively’ away from communalism towards a free, open and multi-ethnic political system. Acknowledging that political parties in many ethnically-divided societies tend to be based around particular ethnic groups, the Commission’s stated objective was ‘to find ways of encouraging all, or a sufficient number, of them to come together for the purpose of governing the country in a way that gives all communities an opportunity to take part’ (Constitution Review Commission 1996:308). They viewed the electoral system as the most powerful tool by which the nature of Fijian politics could be influenced and engineered. After assessing and evaluating most major electoral systems against criteria such as the capacity to encourage multi-ethnic government; recognition of the importance of political parties; incentives for moderation and co-operation across ethnic lines; and effective representation of constituents, they recommended the adoption of a preferential alternative vote (AV) electoral system for all future elections in Fiji (Constitution Review Commission 1996:304)

Earned income tax credit recipients: income, marginal tax rates, wealth, and credit constraints

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) has evolved into the largest anti-poverty program in the United States by providing tax credits for low and moderate income working families. In this paper, we describe the characteristics of EITC recipients at various ages using Current Population Survey data. In addition, we discuss the relevance of the EITC in affecting marginal income tax rates in the United States and discuss the effects of the EITC on household labor supply decisions. Lastly, using data from the Survey of Consumer Finances, we estimate wealth distributions for EITC recipients and analyze the extent to which EITC recipients are credit constrained.Credit ; Taxation

Political reform in Papua New Guinea: Testing the evidence

Over the past few years Papua New Guinea has implemented a series of major political reforms in the electoral, political party and parliamentary arenas. In what constitutes an extremely ambitious attempt to change the way Papua New Guinea’s political system works, the broad aim of this process of political engineering is to strengthen political parties, promote more broadly supported candidates and increase political stability. These three goals find their institutional expression in several different pieces of legislation introduced in 2001 and 2002, most notably the Organic Law on National and Local-Level Government Elections (OLNLLGE) and the Organic Law on Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates (OLIPPAC)