Middle-income tax rates: trends and prospects

The federal tax liabilities of different income groups change constantly in response to new tax laws and shifting economic circumstances. For example, in recent years, Congress has lowered individual income tax rates, increased child and dependent care credits, and reduced taxes on dividends and capital gains. Much of the economic analysis and political debate about these federal tax changes concerns the impact on upper- or lower-income groups, while the impact on middle-income taxpayers sometimes gets forgotten. ; The trends in tax rates can be difficult for middle-income taxpayers, themselves, to discern. Modest revisions to the federal tax code may hardly be noticed in any given year; yet these revisions could build over time into a large change in the middle-income tax rate. Some taxpayers may also find it difficult to determine whether changes in their tax liability are due to legislated changes in the federal tax code or shifts in their own circumstances. ; Davig and Garner define the effective federal tax rate for middle-income households and discuss the problems in computing this measure. They find that the effective federal tax rate facing middle-income households has trended downward over the last 25 years and is currently low by historical standards. Moreover, the composition of middle-income tax liabilities over this period has shifted away from individual income taxes toward payroll taxes. Finally, they show that under current tax law middle-income taxes are projected to rise in the future.Taxation

The microstructure and microtexture of zirconium oxide films studied by transmission electron backscatter diffraction and automated crystal orientation mapping with transmission electron microscopy

A detailed characterization of nanostructured thin zirconium oxide films formed during aqueous corrosion of a nuclear-grade zirconium alloy (Zircaloy-4) has been carried out by means of two novel, ultra-high-spatial-resolution grain mapping techniques, namely automated crystal orientation mapping in the transmission electron microscope (TEM) and transmission electron backscatter diffraction (t-EBSD). While the former provided excellent spatial resolution with the ability to identify tetragonal ZrO<sub>2</sub> grains as small as ∼5 nm, the superior angular resolution and unambiguous indexing with t-EBSD enabled verification of the TEM observations. Both techniques revealed that in a stress-free condition (TEM foil prepared by focused ion beam milling), the oxide consists mainly of well-oriented columnar monoclinic grains with a high fraction of transformation twin boundaries, which indicates that the transformation from tetragonal to monoclinic ZrO<sub>2</sub> is a continuous process, and that a significant fraction of the columnar grains transformed from stress-stabilized tetragonal grains with (0 0 1) planes parallel to the metal–oxide interface. The TEM analysis also revealed a small fraction of size-stabilized, equiaxed tetragonal grains throughout the oxide. Those grains were found to show significant misalignment from the expected (0 0 1) growth direction, which explains the limited growth of those grains. The observations are discussed in the context of providing new insights into corrosion mechanisms of zirconium alloys, which is of particular importance for improving service life of fuel assemblies used in water-cooled reactors

Creation of long-term coherent optical memory via controlled nonlinear interactions in Bose-Einstein condensates

A Bose-Einstein condensate confined in an optical dipole trap is used to generate long-term coherent memory for light, and storage times of more than one second are observed. Phase coherence of the condensate as well as controlled manipulations of elastic and inelastic atomic scattering processes are utilized to increase the storage fidelity by several orders of magnitude over previous schemes. The results have important applications for creation of long-distance quantum networks and for generation of entangled states of light and matter.Comment: published version of the pape

Divestment of Federal Water Projects

21 pages. Contains references

Divestment of Federal Water Projects

21 pages. Contains references

The Future of Appellate Advocacy

Keynote lecture

A Comparison of Student Success by Faculty Qualifications

Providing the best qualified faculty to ensure the most successful student outcomes is a priority in higher education. The use of adjunct faculty in colleges and universities is continually increasing, especially for lower level courses. Previous research has come to conflicting conclusions regarding the quality of adjunct faculty. Indicators of student success were compared between part-time instructors with professional doctoral degrees and full-time instructors with academic doctoral degrees. Results of statistical analyses of both a comparison of final grade distributions and knowledge of course content determined that there were no significant differences between two comparable groups of students in a freshman-level anatomy and physiology course. There were also no statistically significant differences in student outcomes of the subsequent course of anatomy and physiology or in the acceptance rates of students to allied health programs based on their instructors\u27 qualifications in the first semester anatomy and physiology course. The results of this study suggest that students of part-time faculty with professional doctoral degrees have the same levels of success as those students who had full-time faculty in the same course

Gaslamp Hotel-Fire Protection/Life Safety Analysis

The Gaslamp Hotel was analyzed for fire protection/life safety using two different methodologies; a prescriptive approach and a performance-based approach. Both considered the same features of the building. The prescriptive analyses studied the variation of the building’s fire protection/life safety components from those required by the applicable codes and standards. This included building construction, fire resistance, fire suppression, fire detection, smoke control system, and egress systems. The results of the analysis indicate that the building complies with the requirements of the applicable codes and standards, with three exceptions relating to occupant egress: 1) The first-floor bar area: One exit is provided, however two are required. An addition exit through the restaurant is recommended. 2) The 8th floor East and West Terrace areas: Only one exit from each space is provided, two are required. The use of horizontal exits along the east and west exterior walls was recommended. In addition, the east terrace requires the addition of a corridor and new exit door at the north end. The west horizontal exit can also be used to disperse pre-function occupants to the west. 3) Eighth Floor Corridor 885: This is a dead end, which exceeds 20 feet in length. A door should be installed at the beginning of the corridor. The performance-based approach included the evaluation of building occupant safety given two reasonable worst-case scenarios and two evacuation conditions. The results of the time-based egress analysis indicate that occupants, both remote from and intimate with the fire origin, could safely egress the building prior to tenability conditions degrading to life threatening conditions. Despite the successful outcome of the analysis, a recommendation was made to add additional low-level exit signs with the intent of improving the inclination for occupants to egress through the corridors in low visibility conditions. The structural analysis simulated the total burn out of the room of fire origin, which produced high temperatures for an extended period of time, 24 minutes. Two reasonable worst-case scenarios were considered. The results of the first scenario indicate the increase in temperature of the reinforcing bars within the concrete floor slab did not cause a significant reduction in steel yield strength and that even at elevated temperatures the reinforce concrete floor slab could adequately support the applied load. The results of the second scenario indicated that the reinforced concrete floor slab could still support the applied load, but only by a small margin. A recommendation was made to complete a higher order analysis to clarify the situation