Changes in Property Tax Progressivity for Florida Homeowners after the “Save Our Homes Amendment?

The “Save Our Homes Amendment?to Florida’s constitution limits annual increases in the taxable value of a homestead property to 3 percent or the rate of inflation (whichever is less) as long as the property is owned by the same owner. The amount of property value protected from taxation throughout the state by this amendment has grown to over $246 billion (13.9 percent of total property value) since the amendment’s implementation in 1995. This study tests whether the protection has accrued disproportionately over time among homestead property owners, the very group of people the amendment was intended to protect. The results suggest that the amendment has reduced the degree of progressivity in the state’s property tax system such that the owners of lower value home properties are shouldering an increasing proportion of the property tax burden relative to the owners of higher value homestead properties. The differential impacts of the SOHA across value ranges of homestead properties are likely attributable to differential appreciation and ownership transfers for higher and lower value homestead properties throughout the state.

Identifying Determinants of Horizontal Property Tax Inequity: Evidence from Florida

In the property tax literature, an ad valorem property tax is considered equitable if all properties in the taxing jurisdiction are subject to the same effective tax rate. That is, all properties, regardless of value or type, should be taxed at the same percentage of their market value. Because market value is a theoretical construct and not directly observable, errors in estimating market value may result in systematic inequity, with some properties taxed at higher effective rates than others. This study extends previous research on property tax inequity by examining potential determinants of errors in the property valuation process for a sample of single-family homes in Palm Beach County, Florida. The results indicate that assessment difficulty (as measured by the variation around the mean assessment to transaction price ratio) is positively related to lot size, living area, age of the home and the percentage of minority residents in the neighborhood and is negatively related to market activity levels, resident income levels, whether the property is the permanent residence of its owner, and whether the property has a swimming pool. The generality of these results is limited by the use of transaction price as a proxy for unobservable market value.

MANAGEMENT OF ETHNO-LINGUISTIC CONFLICT: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF BELGIAN AND NIGERIAN MODELS

The spate of violent conflict all over the world since the end of the cold war has been chiefly engineered by ethno-linguistic supremacy based on prevalent ethnic pluralism. Ethno-linguistic pluralism is a conflict issue in Nigeria and it has antecedents of major conflicts trailing its existence. Ethno-linguistic conflicts have been on the rise since the commencement of the Fourth Republic basically due to the liberalisation of the political space and this has resulted in violent conflicts claiming lives and wantonly destroying property. Most of the strategies deployed to resolve ethno-linguistic conflicts in Nigeria are often unable to diagnose accurately the nature of the conflicts and the resolve the main issues causing them. Therefore most of the conflicts become intractable. However, Nigeria is not an isolated case as some other nations around the world are either battling with ideas to resolve the numerous conflicts it has generated or have evolved home-grown mechanisms to manage the ethno-linguistic challenges it has posed. This paper seeks to highlight ethno-linguistic conflict issues in Belgium and the strategies deployed in resolving it and at the same time reflect on the Nigerian experience drawing out unique experiences, similarities and lessons to be learnt from both countrie

Sensitivity Analysis of Road Freight Transportation of a Mega Non-Alcoholic Beverage Industry

Re-optimization can be very costly for gathering and obtaining more data for a particular problem, to curb this very expensive investment.  Sensitivity analysis has been used in this work to determine the behaviour of input parameters of the formulated problem. The main goal of the study is to respectively provide, derive, observe, compare and discuss the sensitivity analysis of data that has been optimized using different methods of the optimal solution. The best method, saving the highest percentage of transportation cost, for the formulated problem is determined to be the North-West Corner method. This was carried out by arbitrarily assigning values to the available warehouses to determine the best possible demand and supply cases rather than the initial cases. Thus, more cases are advised to be supplied to FID from the Asejire plant for the optimum reduced value of transportation cost. Keywords: Sensitivity, Parameters, Transportation Problem

On the Stochastic Optimal Control Model of the Investments of Defined Contribution (DC) Pension Funds

One of the major problems faced in the management of pension funds and plan is how to allocate and control the future flow of contribution likewise the proportion of portfolio value and investments in risky assets. In this work, optimal investment for a stochastic model of a Defined contribution (DC) is investigated such that the model design is analysed yielding an optimized expected utility of the members’ terminal wealth. An optimized solution is derived using the Hamilton Jacobi equation in solving the problem of investment strategy formulated by Constant absolute risk aversion (CARA). However, to consider the changes that occur in the dimension of optimal solutions in optimization problems, mostly, the optimal behaviour of parameters, the sensitivity analysis is considered. Thus, the analysis of the model is carried out herein by utilising the approach of the sensitivity analysis of parameters. This is carried out by using Maple software and varying the values of some model parameters such that the behaviour of each parameter relating to the pension funds invested in the risky assets is determined. The results are presented graphically and using tables thus discussed such that pension investors and stakeholders are advised. Keywords: Stochastic; DC Pension funds; Sensitivity analysis; Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation; Optimal investmen

Differentiating Plasmodium falciparum alleles by transforming Cartesian X,Y data to polar coordinates

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Diagnosis of infectious diseases now benefits from advancing technology to perform multiplex analysis of a growing number of variables. These advances enable simultaneous surveillance of markers characterizing species and strain complexity, mutations associated with drug susceptibility, and antigen-based polymorphisms in relation to evaluation of vaccine effectiveness. We have recently developed assays detecting single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the <it>P. falciparum </it>genome that take advantage of post-PCR ligation detection reaction and fluorescent microsphere labeling strategies. Data from these assays produce a spectrum of outcomes showing that infections result from single to multiple strains. Traditional methods for distinguishing true positive signal from background can cause false positive diagnoses leading to incorrect interpretation of outcomes associated with disease treatment.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Following analysis of <it>Plasmodium falciparum </it>dihydrofolate reductase SNPs associated with resistance to a commonly used antimalarial drug, Fansidar (Sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine), and presumably neutral SNPs for parasite strain differentiation, we first evaluated our data after setting a background signal based on the mean plus three standard deviations for known negative control samples. Our analysis of single allelic controls suggested that background for the absent allele increased as the concentration of the target allele increased. To address this problem, we introduced a simple change of variables from customary (<it>X,Y</it>) (Cartesian) coordinates to planar polar coordinates (<it>X </it>= <it>r</it>cos(<it>θ</it>), <it>Y </it>= <it>r</it>sin(<it>θ</it>)). Classification of multidimensional fluorescence signals based on histograms of angular and radial data distributions proved more effective than classification based on Cartesian thresholds. Comparison with known diallelic dilution controls suggests that histogram-based classification is effective for major:minor allele concentration ratios as high as 10:1.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We have observed that the diallelic SNP data resulting from analysis of <it>P. falciparum </it>mutations is more accurately diagnosed when a simple polar transform of the (<it>X,Y</it>) data into (<it>r,θ</it>) is used. The development of high through-put methods for genotyping <it>P. falciparum </it>SNPs and the refinement of analytical approaches for evaluating these molecular diagnostic results significantly advance the evaluation of parasite population diversity and antimalarial drug resistance.</p

Interactions of cross-linked and uncross-linked chitosan hydrogels with surfactants for biomedical applications

The swelling equilibrium of Chitosan and sodium tripolyphosphate (NaTPP) cross-linked chitosan hydrogels in aqueous solutions of surfactants differing in structure and hydrophobicity at 250C is reported. Anionic surfactant sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS), the cationic surfactant hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (HTAB) and neutral surfactants Triton X-100 were employed. The surfactants induced abrupt change in the gel volume. The equilibrium swelling ratio first decreased sharply as the concentration of the surfactant increased and remained almost constant up to the critical micelles concentration (CMC) of the surfactants and then increased again as the concentration increased above the CMC of the surfactants used. The equilibrium volume change of hydrogel was significantly increased from HTAB > Triton X-100 > SDS> the mixed SDS/Triton X- 100 system. A decrease in equilibrium swelling ratio of the gel in SDS/TX-100 mixtures was observed with an increase in the mole ratio of SDS. The results also revealed that cross-linking with 3% or 5% w/v NaTPP exhibited lower equilibrium swelling values. This swelling study showed that cross-linking density, surfactant type, and their respective concentrations were important parameters that could affect equilibrium swelling of chitosan gel. Structural elucidation of the nanocomposites was monitored using Infra-red Spectroscopy (IR), and X-Ray Diffractography (XRD)

Isolation, characterization and extracellular enzyme detection of microbial isolates from deteriorated apple (malus domestica) fruits

Studies were carried out on deteriorated apples obtained from the Just Rite supermarket, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria, to isolate microorganisms associated with post-harvest deterioration of apple (Malus domestica) fruits. The bacterial species were identified using microscopy, morphology and various biochemical tests while macroscopy and morphology was used to identify the fungi isolated. The ability of the isolate to elaborate extracellular amylase and protease were tested for. Results revealed Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus flavus as the fungal species while the bacterial species isolated were Bacillus spp and Micrococcus spp. All the isolates except Aspergillus niger produced amylase in substantial amount. Micrococcus spp, Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus flavus produced protease. The results of this investigation if combined with further studies can be used in identifying organisms which could be used as a biological method in the control of apple pathogens. © 2013 International Formulae Group. All rights reserved

Accelerating Rural Growth Through Collective Action: Groups\u27 Activities and Determinants of Participation in Southwestern Nigeria

This study was conducted to investigate the types of activities promoted by cooperative groups and the determinants of participation intensity of members in cooperative activities in southwestern Nigeria. A multistage sampling approach was used to select 326 cooperators (45 groups). Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, difference of means test, and Tobit regression.Cooperative groups engaged in farm and off-farm activities such as arable crop production, fish farming, agricultural products processing, and produce marketing, among others. Farm input procurements and access to market information (74 percent), cooperative credits and thrift (53 percent), social networking (37 percent), multipurpose commercial activities (21.6 percent), and political influence (17 percent) were given as reasons for interest and participation in groups\u27 activities. Income realized by cooperators was significantly and consistently higher than income of non-cooperators who engaged in the same economic activity. Participation intensity was influenced by gender, farm size cultivated, and the social status of members

A Microcontroller Framework for PC Based Electrical Appliance Control System

Personal computers are increasingly becoming the platform of choice to design and implement control algorithms because it is simple to write, modify and update software programs that implement control algorithms. In this paper, the personal computer is used to control the electrical appliances which includes turning high power alternating current (AC) loads such as lights, fans, heaters etc ON or OFF. To successfully integrate the interface box with the machine (laptop), an interface device is used within the PC that can perform the necessary tasks. The interface box can be controlled by the computer by connecting to the USB port and developed a program in C-sharp(C#) programming language. The program will demonstrate the basic idea of how to control devices and monitor events. With the program, the computer can turn electric devices ON/OFF while disregarding the manual control system. Moreover, the people who are physically disabled in homes and work places are able to control the home appliances by interacting with the interface of the developed appliance. It is a necessity to employ the service of Home Appliances Control as it is more effective, efficient and stress-free. Keywords: Personal Computers, Home Control Appliance, Distribution Fuse Board (DFB), Graphical User Interface (GUI), Interface Box, Internal Module, Enumeration, Local Area Network (LAN)