Revealed Preferences for Car Tax Cuts: an Empirical Study of Perceived Fiscal Incidence

Voting in an election in which elimination of the local car tax is the central issue shows how a highly visible universal tax cut can prevail in the electoral process even if benefits are skewed toward upper income households. These results are consistent with positive models of fiscal structure choice in which fiscal systems are the consequence of support maximizing politicians attempting to supply net benefits to easily identifiable interest groups without generating significant opposition from other groups.personal property taxes, tax revolt,targeted universalism

An Evaluation Of The Effectiveness Of The Experiencing The Joy Program In Attracting And Connecting With Postmoderns In The Richmond Hill Seventh-Day Adventist Church

Problem The Richmond Hill Seventh-day Adventist Church has not been successful in attracting post-modern young adults. Pastoral observation suggests that a potential contributing factor is that doctrinal study guides are not effective for reaching young adults. Post-modems are very visually oriented and place an emphasis on the need for experiential learning. In order to be effective, Bible studies targeting post-modem young adults need to focus on a combination of experiential discussions, relationships and individuality. These three areas are the focus of a new video Bible study series that specifically targets post-modem young adults entitled, Experiencing the Joy. Method The method used to evaluate the effectiveness of the Experiencing the Joy program in attracting and connecting with post-modern young adults was through a project conducted in the Richmond Hill Seventh-day Adventist Church comparing one lesson of the Experiencing the Joy study with one lesson of Search for Certainty study and documenting the results. The second part of the method was to implement the Experiencing the Joy program into the Richmond Hill Seventh-day Adventist Church with a group of young adults and document the results. The third part was to request pastors of area churches to implement the Experiencing the Joy program into their ministry and document the results. Results The result showed that the Experiencing the Joy program was an effective tool for attracting and connecting with young adults. This tool was proven more effective at attracting and connecting with young adults than the traditional Bible study during the project conducted at Richmond Hill Seventh-day Adventist Church. The program was successfully implemented into the Richmond Hill Seventh-day Adventist Church. The Experiencing the Joy program was successfully implemented into the College Park Elementary School with the grade 8 students and additional high school students; the young adult group meeting at the Harmony Seventh-day Adventist Church; the young adults meeting at the Immanuel Seventh-day Adventist Church; the Kitchener-Waterloo Seventh-day Adventist Church; and the Kingsway College students. Conclusions The Experiencing the Joy program is an effective tool for reaching postmodern young adults. The churches that have implemented these studies provide positive feedback in their ongoing use of the Experiencing the Joy program

A novel element upstream of the Vgamma2 gene in the murine T cell receptor gamma locus cooperates with the 3 enhancer to act as a locus control region.

Transgenic expression constructs were employed to identify a cis-acting transcription element in the T cell receptor (TCR)-gamma locus, called HsA, between the Vgamma5 and Vgamma2 genes. In constructs lacking the previously defined enhancer (3E(Cgamma1)), HsA supports transcription in mature but not immature T cells in a largely position-independent fashion. 3E(Cgamma1), without HsA, supports transcription in immature and mature T cells but is subject to severe position effects. Together, the two elements support expression in immature and mature T cells in a copy number-dependent, position-independent fashion. Furthermore, HsA was necessary for consistent rearrangement of transgenic recombination substrates. These data suggest that HsA provides chromatin-opening activity and, together with 3E(Cgamma1), constitutes a T cell-specific locus control region for the TCR-gamma locus

Stress-Induced Cocaine Seeking Requires a Beta-2 Adrenergic Receptor-Regulated Pathway from the Ventral Bed Nucleus of the Stria Terminalis That Regulates CRF Actions in the Ventral Tegmental Area

The ventral bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (vBNST) has been implicated in stress-induced cocaine use. Here we demonstrate that, in the vBNST, corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) is expressed in neurons that innervate the ventral tegmental area (VTA), a site where the CRF receptor antagonist antalarmin prevents the reinstatement of cocaine seeking by a stressor, intermittent footshock, following intravenous self-administration in rats. The vBNST receives dense noradrenergic innervation and expresses β adrenergic receptors (ARs). Footshock-induced reinstatement was prevented by bilateral intra-vBNST injection of the β-2 AR antagonist, ICI-118,551, but not the β-1 AR antagonist, betaxolol. Moreover, bilateral intra-vBNST injection of the β-2 AR agonist, clenbuterol, but not the β-1 agonist, dobutamine, reinstated cocaine seeking, suggesting that activation of vBNST β-2 AR is both necessary for stress-induced reinstatement and sufficient to induce cocaine seeking. The contribution of a β-2 AR-regulated vBNST-to-VTA pathway that releases CRF was investigated using a disconnection approach. Injection of ICI-118,551 into the vBNST in one hemisphere and antalarmin into the VTA of the contralateral hemisphere prevented footshock-induced reinstatement, whereas ipsilateral manipulations failed to attenuate stress-induced cocaine seeking, suggesting that β-2 AR regulate vBNST efferents that release CRF into the VTA, activating CRF receptors, and promoting cocaine use. Last, reinstatement by clenbuterol delivered bilaterally into the vBNST was prevented by bilateral vBNST pretreatment with antalarmin, indicating that β-2 AR-mediated actions in the vBNST also require local CRF receptor activation. Understanding the processes through which stress induces cocaine seeking should guide the development of new treatments for addiction

Analytic Reconstruction of heavy-quark two-point functions at O(\alpha_s^3)

Using a method previously developed, based on the Mellin-Barnes transform, we reconstruct the two-point correlators in the vector, axial, scalar and pseudoscalar channels from the Taylor expansion at q^2=0, the threshold expansion at q^2=4m^2 and the OPE at q^2\rightarrow -\infty, where m is the heavy quark mass. The reconstruction is analytic and systematic and is controlled by an error function which becomes smaller as more terms in those expansions are known.Comment: 19 pages, 11 figure

Large round bales : safety (1998)

The key to safe and efficient systems for handling large round bales is an operator who knows the hazards involved and who follows safety practices that can prevent accidents. Operators must be constantly alert for situations that may cause injuries to themselves or others. Besides pain and suffering, accidents contribute to higher costs in terms of unnecessary downtime or costly machine repairs. Alertness and safety consciousness can result in more efficient and profitable baling and handling

Developmentally Programmed Rearrangement of T Cell Receptor Vγ Genes Is Controlled by Sequences Immediately Upstream of the Vγ Genes

AbstractDistinct subsets of γδ T cells expressing different Vγ and Vδ chains arise in ordered waves during thymic development. In the murine Jγ1–Cγ1 cluster, the Vγ3 gene segment is utilized earliest in fetal thymic development, in progenitors of dendritic epidermal T cells (DECs). The Vγ2 gene segment predominates in the late fetal stages and beyond, in cells destined for the secondary lymphoid organs. Using transgenic TCRγ recombination substrates, we demonstrate that this restricted Vγ gene usage is determined by developmentally targeted gene rearrangement. We show that sequences immediately upstream of the Vγ2 and Vγ3 genes direct the rearrangement pattern in adult thymocytes. Thus, the choice of Vγ gene for recombination is coordinated with distinct differentiation programs in γδ subsets