State vs. Federal: marijuana legislation and its effect on taxes

Marijuana is becoming increasingly popular and accepted within our society; so much so that certain states have legalized it for medical or recreational use, despite marijuana remaining illegal with regards to the federal government. This has lead, and will continue to lead, to complicated and uncertain tax scenarios for the businesses that produce and sell marijuana. Many problems stem from the federal government being unable to recognize or associate with businesses that deal with marijuana. This affects these otherwise legitimate businesses by disallowing the use of federally insured banks as well as taking away the ability to seek federal bankruptcy protection. An inability to operate as a normal business may lead marijuana businesses to explore other tax planning solutions such as organizing as a social welfare organization. At worst, they may be driven back underground. Additionally, it may be professionally risky for CPAs to perform services to these businesses for fear of violating ethical standards. These smaller problems inevitably become one big problem, highlighting the power struggle between state and federal governments. Should the federal government have the ability to make these decisions for all of the states or should each state and each county of each state be allowed to regulate marijuana on their own? At the heart of this issue is its time sensitive nature. As potential government power changes, the future of marijuana businesses and their associates is unfairly unclear. In order to solve these problems, the federal government has three choices; each with their own benefits and costs. They can legalize marijuana at a federal level, completely outlaw marijuana and begin enforcing laws against known state dispensaries, or they can change certain areas of the tax codes and other select laws to offer clear directions for businesses and assurances of limited liability to those with whom they work

Moments in transformation: Trainee and newly qualified Lifelong learning teachers’ reconceptualization of assessment in practice

This study investigates the pre-and post-training conceptualisations of assessment amongst trainee and recently qualified teachers in the lifelong learning sector in the UK. Using the lens of transformative learning, the study maps out the process, influential factors and time in the shift in conceptualisation. Though designed as a qualitative iterative study, the study employed a combination of statistical tools and content analysis in data analysis. It found that the dominant pre-training conceptualisation of assessment was in its summative essence as a tool for testing and examination and that reconceptualization occurred mostly during practice. The study calls for a review of the structure and content of teacher education in the area of assessment and proposed that post-training development programmes for newly and recently qualified teachers must acknowledge these findings in their teacher development programmes

Estimating Phase Velocity and Attenuation of Guided Waves in Acoustic Logging Data

Phase velocity and attenuation of guided waves have been estimated from multireceiver, full waveform, acoustic logging data using the extended Prony's method. Since a formation affects velocity and attenuation, estimating these quantities is important in evaluating the formation properties. The estimation is performed using an array processing technique which requires two steps: (1) the traces for all receivers are transformed into the frequency domain, and (2) for each frequency the extended Prony's method is used to determine the presence of a guided wave propagating past the array of receivers. The guided wave properties estimated by the Prony's method include amplitude, attenuation, and phase change which is related to phase velocity. An important assumption in this array processing technique is that the formation, borehole fluid, and tool are homogeneous along the receiving array. For synthetic data, the phase velocities and attenuation of the tube wave and two modes of the pseudo-Rayleigh wave are accurately estimated over many frequencies, with the exception that the low amplitude of the second mode causes its attenuation estimate to be somewhat less accurate. For laboratory data, very good estimates of the phase velocities of the tube wave and three modes of the pseudo-Rayleigh wave are obtained. Since the materials used in the laboratory experiment had very large quality factors, the attenuation could not be estimated. For field data, the dispersion of the tube wave and the velocity of the pseudo-Rayleigh wave at its cutoff are very close to those predicted by another, independent method. Accurate attenuation estimates could not be made because the data are noisy and consist of only eight traces.Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Full Waveform Acoustic Logging Consortiu

Three-Wheel Brush-Wheel Sampler

A new sampler is similar to a common snow blower, but is robust and effective in sample collection. The brush wheels are arranged in a triangle shape, each driven by a brushless DC motor and planetary gearhead embedded in the wheel shaft. Its speed can be varied from 800 - 2,000 rpm, depending on the surface regolith resistance. The sample-collecting flow path, and internal features, are designed based on flow dynamics, and the sample-collecting rates have consistently exceeded the requirement under various conditions that span the range of expected surface properties. The brush-wheel sampler (BWS) is designed so that the flow channel is the main body of the apparatus, and links the brush-wheel assembly to the sample canister. The combination of the three brush wheels, the sample flow path, and the canister location make sample collection, storage, and transfer an easier task

Oral iron exacerbates colitis and influences the intestinal microbiome

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is associated with anaemia and oral iron replacement to correct this can be problematic, intensifying inflammation and tissue damage. The intestinal microbiota also plays a key role in the pathogenesis of IBD, and iron supplementation likely influences gut bacterial diversity in patients with IBD. Here, we assessed the impact of dietary iron, using chow diets containing either 100, 200 or 400 ppm, fed ad libitum to adult female C57BL/6 mice in the presence or absence of colitis induced using dextran sulfate sodium (DSS), on (i) clinical and histological severity of acute DSS-induced colitis, and (ii) faecal microbial diversity, as assessed by sequencing the V4 region of 16S rRNA. Increasing or decreasing dietary iron concentration from the standard 200 ppm exacerbated both clinical and histological severity of DSS-induced colitis. DSS-treated mice provided only half the standard levels of iron ad libitum (i.e. chow containing 100 ppm iron) lost more body weight than those receiving double the amount of standard iron (i.e. 400 ppm); p<0.01. Faecal calprotectin levels were significantly increased in the presence of colitis in those consuming 100 ppm iron at day 8 (5.94-fold) versus day-10 group (4.14-fold) (p<0.05), and for the 400 ppm day-8 group (8.17-fold) versus day-10 group (4.44-fold) (p<0.001). In the presence of colitis, dietary iron at 400 ppm resulted in a significant reduction in faecal abundance of Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes, and increase of Proteobacteria, changes which were not observed with lower dietary intake of iron at 100 ppm. Overall, altering dietary iron intake exacerbated DSS-induced colitis; increasing the iron content of the diet also led to changes in intestinal bacteria diversity and composition after colitis was induced with DSS

Spectrums of investment in Doctor Who fandom

Drawing upon a significant weight of empirical data, collected in the field, this thesis proposes a set of four spectrums of investment engaged in by cult media fans: the spectrum of financial investment; the spectrum of what is here termed 'participatory investment'; the spectrum of investment in the idea of textual authenticity; and the spectrum of multiple investments. The spectrum model allows the individual members of the research sample to be located within specific regions of each spectrum and correlations to be drawn between the distinct spectrums, in order for any patterns which emerge to be examined. The thesis also reviews a number of relevant theoretical concerns such as fan studies, ethnography and social psychology.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Dietary nitrate supplementation enhances short but not longer duration running time-trial performance

Purpose This study evaluated the effects of dietary nitrate (NO3-) supplementation on physiological functioning and exercise performance in trained runners/ triathletes conducting short and longer distance treadmill running time-trials (TT). Method Eight trained male runners or triathletes completed four exercise performance tests comprising a 10 minute warm up followed by either a 1500 m or 10,000 m treadmill TT. Exercise performance tests were preceded 3 hours before the exercise by supplementation with either 140 ml concentrated nitrate-rich (~ 12.5 mmol nitrate) (BRJ) or nitrate-deplete (~ 0.01 mmol nitrate) (PLA) beetroot juice. Results BRJ supplementation significantly elevated plasma [NO2-] (P 0.05). However, post-exercise blood [lactate] was significantly greater in BRJ following the 1500 m TT (6.6 ± 1.2 vs. 6.1 ± 1.5 mM; P 0.05). Performance in the 1500 m TT was significantly faster in BRJ versus PLA (319.6 ± 36.2 vs. 325.7 ± 38.8 s; P 0.05). Conclusion Acute BRJ supplementation significantly enhanced 1500 m but not 10,000 m TT performance. These findings suggest that BRJ might be ergogenic during shorter-distance TTs which allow for a high work rate, but not during longer-distance TTs, completed at a lower work rate