Sales Tax and Use Tax: Historical Developments and Differing Features

This article examines the historical development of state sales and use taxes and the erosion of interstate commerce immunities initially enjoyed by out-of-state sellers. While use taxes were enacted to compliment sales taxes so as to encompass purchases from outside the state, the author highlights several features where use tax application differs from sales tax yet cannot be imposed on any greater tax base than the sales tax. Since sales and use taxes face an ever evolving scenario of business transaction, the examination includes recent developments in the area

Acute silica toxicity: attenuation by amiodarone-induced pulmonary phospholipidosis.

Exposure to the toxic mineral dust silica has been shown to produce an acute inflammatory response in the lungs of both humans and laboratory animals. Coating silica with phospholipids reduces its toxicity when studied with in vitro systems. The drug amiodarone increases phospholipid within the cells, airways, and alveoli of the lungs. This increase in phospholipid is due to amiodarone\u27s ability to inhibit phospholipase activity within alveolar macrophages (AMs) and whole lung. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the amiodarone-induced increase in pulmonary phospholipid would protect the lungs from acute damage caused by the intratracheal instillation of silica. Treatment of male Fischer 344 rats with amiodarone for 14 days caused an increase in phospholipid content in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and AMs compared to vehicle-treated controls. The rats were then instilled with silica or saline vehicle. At both 1 and 14 days after silica exposure, pulmonary phospholipidosis was associated with a marked reduction in acute silica-induced pulmonary damage as assessed by biochemical parameters in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, however, the influx of neutrophils into the airspaces was not reduced. Four times more phospholipid was bound to the silica recovered from amiodarone-treated rats compared to controls. The results of these in vivo experiments indicate that pulmonary phospholipidosis attenuates the acute damage associated with the intratracheal instillation of silica in rats. By using an in vitro cell culture system, we demonstrated that, in contrast to control AMs, phospholipidotic AMs were significantly more resistant to the cytotoxicity of surfactant-coated silica.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS

Stick-slip instability for viscous fingering in a gel

The growth dynamics of an air finger injected in a visco-elastic gel (a PVA/borax aqueous solution) is studied in a linear Hele-Shaw cell. Besides the standard Saffmann-Taylor instability, we observe - with increasing finger velocities - the existence of two new regimes: (a) a stick-slip regime for which the finger tip velocity oscillates between 2 different values, producing local pinching of the finger at regular intervals, (b) a ``tadpole'' regime where a fracture-type propagation is observed. A scaling argument is proposed to interpret the dependence of the stick-slip frequency with the measured rheological properties of the gel.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures. Submitted to Europhysics Letter

Cases in Strategic Management & Teaching Manual

The purpose of this capstone project was to choose, edit, organize, and arrange eighteen graduate level strategic management cases and accompanying teacher's notes into a textbook and an accompanying teacher's manual that will be used by business students at the graduate level. The cases and teacher's notes were originally authored by graduate level business students from Northern Illinois University. During the semester, Dr. King and I met a total of six times-three meetings in which I received batches of material and three in which I returned the completed material. Each batch consisted of 9-15 papers and I was required to choose six from each one that I believed to be the "best". Therefore, the total number of cases with accompanying teacher's notes chosen was 18. All other decisions relating to the text were my sole responsibility. The methodology used to determine which six cases were the "best" from each batch entailed the development of a worksheet that involved assigning points (1-10) to selected criteria for each paper submitted to me by Dr. King. The criteria used in the process of selection for both the cases and the teacher's manual included: length, level of interest, diversity offered to text, quality of questions, and overall quality of writing. Therefore, the maximum number of points that each case/accompanying teacher's notes combination could receive was 100 and the six highest total scores in each batch were selected. The criteria used was analyzed with the following considerations in mind: Length- All things considered, it was believed that the length of the writing should be selected as a criterion since the lengths of each case/notes combination ranged anywhere from 15-100 pages (including pro-forma statements). It was then determined that the optimal length of each case should be 9-13 pages and the optimal length of each teacher's manual should be 8-10 pages. Therefore, writings that approximated these lengths were given the highest points. Level of interest- This very subjective bit of criterion was mainly based on the excitement level of the writing. Papers deemed to be overly dry or repetitious received lower point assignments, while more interesting ones received higher ones. Diversity offered to textbook- Point assignment for this criterion was based on several factors such as diversity of issues explored, diversity of core business operations, diversity of business type (i.e. profit vs. nonprofit, small business vs. corporation, etc.), and any other factors that were believed to bring diversity to the writings. Quality of questions- At the end of each case, questions about various aspects of the case are supplied. These questions were assigned points based on their overall quality. In most cases, the writings with the most questions had an advantage over the others since there were more questions from which to choose. Each case contains from two to four questions-with detailed answers in the teacher's manual. Overall quality of writing- Factors considered important for this criterion were cohesiveness, flow, estimated reading level, and quality of graphs, charts and tables. Once the six best cases/notes from each batch were chosen (based on total points), they were edited, organized, and arranged into what is believed to be publishable material. This required ensuring that the five criteria chosen for evaluating the cases were thoroughly covered. Now that the project is complete, the text and accompanying teacher's manual will be typed and sent to a publisher. If all goes well, the text will be used by graduate business students at Northern Illinois University and elsewhere. This capstone project aided my development as a student in many ways. It not only helped improve my critical thinking, decision making, and writing skills- but it also raised my level of understanding about some of the challenges faced by businesses today. Unfortunately, due to the extent of the project, I regret that I am not able to supply a photocopy of the work. Although, a review of this project can be arranged by contacting Dr. Albert King at 753-6315. Thank you very much.B.S. (Bachelor of Science

Release and Establishment of Megamelus scutellaris (Hemiptera: Delphacidae) on Waterhyacinth in Florida

More than 73,000 Megamelus scutellaris (Hemiptera: Delphacidae) were released in Florida over a 2 to 3 yr period at 10 sites in an attempt to establish sustainable populations on waterhyacinth, Eichhornia crassipes Mart. Solms (Commelinales: Pontederiaceae). Insect populations persisted at most sites including those furthest north and consecutive overwintering was confirmed in as many as three times at some sites. Establishment appeared to be promoted at sites with some cover or shading compared to open areas. Insects readily dispersed over short distances which made detection and monitoring difficultFil: Tipping, Philip W.. Invasive Plant Research Laboratory; Estados UnidosFil: Sosa, Alejandro Joaquín. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Fundación para el Estudio de Especies Invasivas; ArgentinaFil: Pokorny, Eileen N.. Invasive Plant Research Laboratory; Estados UnidosFil: Foley, Jeremiah. Invasive Plant Research Laboratory; Estados UnidosFil: Schmitz, Don C.. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission; Estados UnidosFil: Lane, Jon S.. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Estados UnidosFil: Rodgers, Leroy. South Florida Water Management District; Estados UnidosFil: Mccloud, Lori. St. Johns River Water Management District; Estados UnidosFil: Livingston-Way, Pam. St. Johns River Water Management District; Estados UnidosFil: Cole, Matthew S.. St. Johns River Water Management District; Estados UnidosFil: Nichols, Gary. St. Johns River Water Management District; Estados Unido

Parallel flow in Hele-Shaw cells with ferrofluids

Parallel flow in a Hele-Shaw cell occurs when two immiscible liquids flow with relative velocity parallel to the interface between them. The interface is unstable due to a Kelvin-Helmholtz type of instability in which fluid flow couples with inertial effects to cause an initial small perturbation to grow. Large amplitude disturbances form stable solitons. We consider the effects of applied magnetic fields when one of the two fluids is a ferrofluid. The dispersion relation governing mode growth is modified so that the magnetic field can destabilize the interface even in the absence of inertial effects. However, the magnetic field does not affect the speed of wave propagation for a given wavenumber. We note that the magnetic field creates an effective interaction between the solitons.Comment: 12 pages, Revtex, 2 figures, revised version (minor changes

Meaning above the head: combinatorial constraints on the visual vocabulary of comics

“Upfixes” are “visual morphemes” originating in comics where an element floats above a character’s head (ex. lightbulbs or gears). We posited that, similar to constructional lexical schemas in language, upfixes use an abstract schema stored in memory, which constrains upfixes to locations above the head and requires them to “agree” with their accompanying facial expressions. We asked participants to rate and interpret both conventional and unconventional upfixes that either matched or mismatched their facial expression (Experiment 1) and/or were placed either above or beside the head (Experiment 2). Interpretations and ratings of conventionality and face–upfix matching (Experiment 1) along with overall comprehensibility (Experiment 2) suggested that both constraints operated on upfix understanding. Because these constraints modulated both conventional and unconventional upfixes, these findings support that an abstract schema stored in long-term memory allows for generalisations beyond memorised individual items

Scaling Relations of Viscous Fingers in Anisotropic Hele-Shaw Cells

Viscous fingers in a channel with surface tension anisotropy are numerically studied. Scaling relations between the tip velocity v, the tip radius and the pressure gradient are investigated for two kinds of boundary conditions of pressure, when v is sufficiently large. The power-law relations for the anisotropic viscous fingers are compared with two-dimensional dendritic growth. The exponents of the power-law relations are theoretically evaluated.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure