A Review of State Revenue Actions, 1999-2010

This report examines tax and other revenue changes enacted by the states since 1999 with particular focus on Georgia's Southeast and AAA-rated peers, and how states have dealt with budget gaps in two post-recession periods

Comparing Georgia's Fiscal Policies to Regional and National Peers

The purpose of this report is to analyze the major components of Georgia's state and local revenue and expenditure mixes relative to its peer states. FRC Report 20

Options for Funding Trauma Care in Georgia

This report examines several options for funding trauma care in Georgia through dedicated revenue sources, with the objective of raising approximately $100 million. FRC Report 18

Continuous measurements of discharge from a horizontal acoustic Doppler current profiler in a tidal river

Acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) can be mounted horizontally at a river bank, yielding single-depth horizontal array observations of velocity across the river. This paper presents a semideterministic, semistochastic method to obtain continuous measurements of discharge from horizontal ADCP (HADCP) data in a tidal river. In the deterministic part, single-depth velocity data are converted to specific discharge by applying the law of the wall, which requires knowledge of local values of the bed roughness length (z0). A new filtration technique was developed to infer cross-river profiles of z0 from moving boat ADCP measurements. Width-averaged values of z0 were shown to be predominantly constant in time but differed between ebb and flood. In the stochastic part of the method, specific discharge was converted to total discharge on the basis of a model that accounts for the time lag between flow variation in the central part of the river and flow variation near the banks. Model coefficients were derived using moving boat ADCP data. The consistency of mutually independent discharge estimates from HADCP measurements was investigated to validate the method, analyzing river discharge and tidal discharge separately. Inaccuracy of the method is attributed primarily to mechanisms controlling transverse exchange of momentum, which produce temporal variation in the discharge distribution over the cross section. Specifically, development of river dunes may influence the portion of the discharge concentrated within the range of the HADC

Average reference recording from the vagal nerve reveals an evoked indirect response

The vagal nerve conveys information from and to many organs, including the heart. The components of the compound action potentials (CAPs) recorded from the vagal nerve give information about the different fiber types present. In this paper, we show that with the average reference recording method an additional component can be measured. This component is missed when using a tripolar recording method. Recordings were made in anesthetized pigs. Results show that there is an indirect component in the CAP of the cervical vagal nerve. This component comes from the periphery most likely from the heart

Subtidal water level variation controlled by river flow and tides

Subtidal water level dynamics in the Berau river, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, feature a pronounced fortnightly variation. The daily mean water levels at a station about 60 km from the sea are 0.2–0.6 m higher during spring tide than during neap tide. To explain the underlying mechanisms, a local subtidal momentum balance is set up from field data, using continuous discharge estimates inferred from measurements taken with a horizontal acoustic Doppler current profiler. It is demonstrated that terms accounting for friction and variation in the water surface gradient are dominant in the subtidal momentum balance. To further investigate the sources of subtidal water level variation, a generic method of analysis is proposed to decompose the subtidal friction term into contributions caused by river flow, by interaction between tidal motions and river flow, and by the tidal motions alone. At the station under study, mainly the river-tide interaction term is responsible for generating fortnightly variation of the subtidal water level. The contribution from interaction between diurnal, semidiurnal, and quarterdiurnal tides to subtidal friction is significantly smaller. Provided that the reduction of tidal velocity amplitudes with increasing discharges can be predicted from a regression model, the results presented herein can be used to predict changes in subtidal water levels as a result of increased river discharges

Multi-electrode nerve cuff recording - model analysis of the effects of finite cuff length

The effect of finite cuff length on the signals recorded by electrodes at different positions along the nerve was analysed in a model study. Relations were derived using a one-dimensional model. These were evaluated in a more realistic axially symmetric 3D model. This evaluation indicated that the cuff appeared shorter because of edge effects at the beginning and end of the cuff. The method for velocity selective filtering introduced by Donaldson was subsequently analysed. In this method, velocity selective filtering is achieved by summing the signals of subsequent tripoles after applying time shifts tuned to a certain conduction velocity. It was also found that the optimum electrode distance for a given cuff length for maximum summed RMS of symmetrical tripoles in the cuff is larger than when evaluating peak-peak amplitudes of single fibre action potentials. Velocity selective filtering yields better selectivity when using symmetrical tripoles, but may yield larger signal RMS when using the wider asymmetrical tripoles, potentially allowing for shorter cuffs. It is speculated that application of a multi-electrode reference may improve velocity selectivity for asymmetrical tripoles

A Daple-Akt feed-forward loop enhances noncanonical Wnt signals by compartmentalizing β-catenin.

Cellular proliferation is antagonistically regulated by canonical and noncanonical Wnt signals; their dysbalance triggers cancers. We previously showed that a multimodular signal transducer, Daple, enhances PI3-K→Akt signals within the noncanonical Wnt signaling pathway and antagonistically inhibits canonical Wnt responses. Here we demonstrate that the PI3-K→Akt pathway serves as a positive feedback loop that further enhances noncanonical Wnt signals by compartmentalizing β-catenin. By phosphorylating the phosphoinositide- (PI) binding domain of Daple, Akt abolishes Daple's ability to bind PI3-P-enriched endosomes that engage dynein motor complex for long-distance trafficking of β-catenin/E-cadherin complexes to pericentriolar recycling endosomes (PCREs). Phosphorylation compartmentalizes Daple/β-catenin/E-cadherin complexes to cell-cell contact sites, enhances noncanonical Wnt signals, and thereby suppresses colony growth. Dephosphorylation compartmentalizes β-catenin on PCREs, a specialized compartment for prolonged unopposed canonical Wnt signaling, and enhances colony growth. Cancer-associated Daple mutants that are insensitive to Akt mimic a constitutively dephosphorylated state. This work not only identifies Daple as a platform for cross-talk between Akt and the noncanonical Wnt pathway but also reveals the impact of such cross-talk on tumor cell phenotypes that are critical for cancer initiation and progression

Lampyrids recovered from emergence traps in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Citation: Buschman, L. & Faust, L. (2014). Lampyrids Recovered from Emergence Traps in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. JOURNAL OF THE KANSAS ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 87(2), 245-248. https://doi.org/10.2317/JKES130409.1Photinus carolinus Green is a popular firefly that attracts thousands of visitors each year to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) (Faust, 2009). This firefly is famous for its synchronous flash display in late May and June. The adult flash behavior of this firefly was described by Lloyd (1966) and the synchronous flash behavior was further detailed by Copeland and Moiseff (1995) and Faust (2009, 2010). The biology and natural history of this insect was reported by Faust (2010). This firefly is dependent on larval feeding for its nutrition (adults are nonfeeding), but we know little about the seldom seen larval stage. Rearing has repeatedly proved difficult. For instance, though Buschman (1977) was able to record field and some laboratory observations on field collected larvae, only 2 of the original 59 Photinus consimilis Green complex larvae (closely related to P. carolinus) were successfully reared to adulthood (unpubl. obs.). These larvae were found in marshy habitat feeding on small annelids (Buschman, 1977). Some 40 yr later the biology and natural history of larval Photinus spp. remains poorly understood. This study was done to determine if the fireflies were emerging from the soil/leaf litter in the firefly habitat. This information on larval habitat will be important for understanding the conservation, survival and/or maintenance of fireflies like P. carolinus. It could also support the hypothesis that they are feeding on earthworms and/or other organisms in the soil and leaf litter

OmniSplit: a mobile food ordering platform for restaurant staff and patrons

The takeout industry has benefited greatly from smartphone technology, but the dine- in experience has lagged behind. There are several major issues with the current dining experience, including how to split the check and how to address the issue of poor customer feedback. Some mobile and desktop apps have tired to address individual issues of the restaurant dining process, but there is no single platform that attempts to fix the experience as a whole. We begin by outlining the idea behind OmniSplit, a small to medium business solution that seeks to address many of these issues simultaneously. OmniSplit combines online food payments, individual item ratings, and splitting the check all in one system. We implemented a web application for restaurant staff members and an iOS app for restaurant customers. With the web application, restaurant staff can customize their menu and re- spond to incoming orders and payments. The platform can be expanded on in the future to include additional features, such as the ability to add images to a menu. The iOS app allows users to see the menus of restaurants hosted on OmniSplit, and gives them the option to order food in a group with their friends. At the end of ordering, users can leave ratings for the food they ate. We discuss what we can add in the future to expanding our system, including the ability to tip, ability to refund payments, and a way to view restaurant analytics. Finally, we discuss the societal impact of our system and conclusions we learned during implementation