Emerging Leader of the Tax Avant-Garde

In 1998, Poland\u27s Minister of Finance Leszek Balcerowicz unveiled a plan to restructure the tax system. His fiat tax proposal promises numerous benefits to individual and corporate taxpayers with significant reduction in tax rates for both groups. The new plan offers to further strengthen Poland\u27s growing economy--a consequence that is especially significant in light of the country\u27s aspiration to join the European Union. It provides a remedy for virtually every ailment plaguing the current tax system and, most importantly, the reform offers to finance itself This Note argues that the plan should be adopted immediately for the following reasons: (1) Poland\u27s weak middle class is not likely to oppose it; (2) the danger of harmful consequences to those who rely on the current tax laws is minimal at best; and (3) the reform will send a positive message to the citizens about the country\u27s well-being ten years after its transition to a free-market economy

Exploration Medical System Technical Development

The Exploration Medical Capability (ExMC) Element systems engineering goals include defining the technical system needed to implement exploration medical capabilities for Mars. This past year, scenarios captured in the medical system concept of operations laid the foundation for systems engineering technical development work. The systems engineering team analyzed scenario content to identify interactions between the medical system, crewmembers, the exploration vehicle, and the ground system. This enabled the definition of functions the medical system must provide and interfaces to crewmembers and other systems. These analyses additionally lead to the development of a conceptual medical system architecture. The work supports the ExMC community-wide understanding of the functional exploration needs to be met by the medical system, the subsequent development of medical system requirements, and the system verification and validation approach utilizing terrestrial analogs and precursor exploration missions

Exploration Medical System Technical Architecture Overview

The Exploration Medical Capability (ExMC) Element Systems Engineering (SE) goals include defining the technical system needed to support medical capabilities for a Mars exploration mission. A draft medical system architecture was developed based on stakeholder needs, system goals, and system behaviors, as captured in an ExMC concept of operations document and a system model. This talk will discuss a high-level view of the medical system, as part of a larger crew health and performance system, both of which will support crew during Deep Space Transport missions. Other mission components, such as the flight system, ground system, caregiver, and patient, will be discussed as aspects of the context because the medical system will have important interactions with each. Additionally, important interactions with other aspects of the crew health and performance system are anticipated, such as health & wellness, mission task performance support, and environmental protection. This talk will highlight areas in which we are working with other disciplines to understand these interactions

Application of a Simulation-Based Interprofessional Teamwork Assessment Tool (SITAT) to Individual Student Performance in a Team-Based Simulation

There are a very limited number of instruments to assess individual performance in simulation-based interprofessional education (IPE). The purpose of this study was to apply the Simulation-Based Interprofessional Teamwork Assessment Tool (SITAT) to the individualized assessment of medicine, pharmacy, and nursing students (N = 94) in a team-based IPE simulation, as well as to explore potential differences between disciplines, and calculate reliability estimates for utilization of the tool. Results of an analysis of variance provided evidence that there was no statistically significant difference among professions on overall competency (F(2, 91)  =  0.756, P = .472). The competency reports for nursing (M = 3.06, SD = 0.45), medicine (M = 3.19, SD = 0.42), and pharmacy (M = 3.08, SD = 0.49) students were comparable across professions. Cronbach's alpha provided a reliability estimate of the tool, with evidence of high internal consistency (α = .92). The interrater reliability of the SITAT was also investigated. There was moderate absolute agreement across the 3 faculty raters using the 2-way mixed model design and “average” unit (kappa = 0.536, P = .000, 95% CI [0.34, 0.68]). The novel SITAT demonstrates internal consistency and interrater reliability when used for evaluation of individual performance during IPE simulation. The SITAT provides value in the education and evaluation of individual students engaged in IPE curriculum

Remote Estimation of Net Ecosystem CO2 Exchange in Crops: Principles, Technique Calibration and Validation

Accurate and synoptic estimation of spatially distributed CO2 fluxes is of great importance for regional and global studies of carbon balance. A technique solely based on remotely sensed data was developed and tested for estimating net ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEE) in maize and soybean. The model is based on the reflectance in two spectral channels: the near-infrared and either the green or red-edge around 700 nm. The technique provides accurate estimations of mid-day NEE in both crops under either rainfed or irrigated conditions, explaining more than 85% of NEE variation in maize and more than 81% in soybean, and shows great potential for remotely tracking crop NEE

Flexible nine-channel photodetector probe facilitated intraspinal multisite transcutaneous photobiomodulation therapy dosimetry in cadaver dogs

Noninvasive photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) of spinal cord disease remains speculative due to the lack of evidence for whether photobiomodulatory irradiances can be transcutaneously delivered to the spinal cord under a clinically acceptable PBMT surface irradiation protocol. We developed a flexible nine-channel photodetection probe for deployment within the spinal canal of a cadaver dog after hemilaminectomy to measure transcutaneously transmitted PBMT irradiance at nine sites over an eight-cm spinal canal length. The probe was built upon a 6.325-mm tubular stem, to the surface of which nine photodiodes were epoxied at approximately 1 cm apart. The photodiode has a form factor of 4.80 mm×2.10 mm×1.15 mm (length×width×height). Each photodiode was individually calibrated to deliver 1 V per 7.58 μW/cm2 continuous irradiance at 850 nm. The outputs of eight photodiodes were logged concurrently using a data acquisition module interfacing eight channels of differential analog signals, while the output of the ninth photodiode was measured by a precision multimeter. This flexible probe rendered simultaneous intraspinal (nine-site) measurements of transcutaneous PBMT irradiations at 980 nm in a pilot cadaver dog model. At a surface continuous irradiance of 3.14 W/cm2 applied off-contact between L1 and L2, intraspinal irradiances picked up by nine photodiodes had a maximum of 327.48 μW/cm2 without the skin and 5.68 μW/cm2 with the skin.Electrical & Computer EngineeringVeterinary Clinical Science

Optimization of an enclosed gas analyzer sampling system for measuring eddy covariance fluxes of H<sub>2</sub>O and CO<sub>2</sub>

Several initiatives are currently emerging to observe the exchange of energy and matter between the earth's surface and atmosphere standardized over larger space and time domains. For example, the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) and the Integrated Carbon Observing System (ICOS) are set to provide the ability of unbiased ecological inference across ecoclimatic zones and decades by deploying highly scalable and robust instruments and data processing. In the construction of these observatories, enclosed infrared gas analyzers are widely employed for eddy covariance applications. While these sensors represent a substantial improvement compared to their open- and closed-path predecessors, remaining high-frequency attenuation varies with site properties and gas sampling systems, and requires correction. Here, we show that components of the gas sampling system can substantially contribute to such high-frequency attenuation, but their effects can be significantly reduced by careful system design. From laboratory tests we determine the frequency at which signal attenuation reaches 50 % for individual parts of the gas sampling system. For different models of rain caps and particulate filters, this frequency falls into ranges of 2.5–16.5 Hz for CO2, 2.4–14.3 Hz for H2O, and 8.3–21.8 Hz for CO2, 1.4–19.9 Hz for H2O, respectively. A short and thin stainless steel intake tube was found to not limit frequency response, with 50 % attenuation occurring at frequencies well above 10 Hz for both H2O and CO2. From field tests we found that heating the intake tube and particulate filter continuously with 4 W was effective, and reduced the occurrence of problematic relative humidity levels (RH  > 60 %) by 50 % in the infrared gas analyzer cell. No further improvement of H2O frequency response was found for heating in excess of 4 W. These laboratory and field tests were reconciled using resistor–capacitor theory, and NEON's final gas sampling system was developed on this basis. The design consists of the stainless steel intake tube, a pleated mesh particulate filter and a low-volume rain cap in combination with 4 W of heating and insulation. In comparison to the original design, this reduced the high-frequency attenuation for H2O by  ≈ 3∕4, and the remaining cospectral correction did not exceed 3 %, even at high relative humidity (95 %). The standardized design can be used across a wide range of ecoclimates and site layouts, and maximizes practicability due to minimal flow resistance and maintenance needs. Furthermore, due to minimal high-frequency spectral loss, it supports the routine application of adaptive correction procedures, and enables largely automated data processing across sites