The Distributional Impact of Statewide Property Tax Relief: the Michigan Case

This study uses data from a random survey of 2001 Michigan households to analyze the extent to which the Michigan ctreuit-breaker has been successful in reducing the income regressivity of the property tax and in changing relative property tax burdens. Because of its relatively extensive coverage, including renters as well as homeowners and the nonaged as well as the aged, the circuit-breaker has yielded a more equal distribution of income within Michigan. Its potential to change the distribution of income depends on the particular formula utilized, but redistributional effects have thus far been lamited because program participation has been positively correlated with income. To the extent that reductions in the price ofpublic services created by the circuit-breaker are perceived by households, the biggest stimulus appears to be in high property tax/high-income countiesPeer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68848/2/10.1177_109114218301100201.pd

Risk prediction models for head and neck cancer: a rapid review

Background: Cancer risk assessment models are used to support prevention and early detection. However, few models have been developed for head and neck cancer (HNC). Methods: A rapid review of Embase and MEDLINE identified n = 3045 articles. Following dual screening, n = 14 studies were included. Quality appraisal using the PROBAST (risk of bias) instrument was conducted, and a narrative synthesis was performed to identify the best performing models in terms of risk factors and designs. Results: Six of the 14 models were assessed as “high” quality. Of these, three had high predictive performance achieving area under curve values over 0.8 (0.87–0.89). The common features of these models were their inclusion of predictors carefully tailored to the target population/anatomical subsite and development with external validation. Conclusions: Some existing models do possess the potential to identify and stratify those at risk of HNC but there is scope for improvement

Testing Logselfsimilarity of Soil Particle Size Distribution: Simulation with Minimum Inputs

Particle size distribution (PSD) greatly influences other soil physical properties. A detailed textural analysis is time-consuming and expensive. Soil texture is commonly reported in terms of mass percentages of a small number of size fractions (typically, clay, silt and sand). A method to simulate the PSD from such a poor description or even from the poorest description, consisting in the mass percentages of only two soil size fractions, would be extremly useful for prediction purposes. The goal of this paper is to simulate soil PSDs from the minimum number of inputs, i.e., two and three textural fraction contents, by using a logselfsimilar model and an iterated function system constructed with these data. High quality data on 171 soils are used. Additionally, the characterization of soil texture by entropy-based parameters provided by the model is tested. Results indicate that the logselfsimilar model may be a useful tool to simulate PSD for the construction of pedotransfer functions related to other soil properties when textural information is limited to moderate textural data

Evolution of a Holocene delta driven by episodic sediment delivery and coseismic deformation, Puget Sound, Washington, USA

This paper is not subject to U.S. copyright. The definitive version was published in Sedimentology 53 (2006): 1211-1228, doi:10.1111/j.1365-3091.2006.00809.x.Episodic, large-volume pulses of volcaniclastic sediment and coseismic subsidence of the coast have influenced the development of a late Holocene delta at southern Puget Sound. Multibeam bathymetry, ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and vibracores were used to investigate the morphologic and stratigraphic evolution of the Nisqually River delta. Two fluvial–deltaic facies are recognized on the basis of GPR data and sedimentary characteristics in cores, which suggest partial emplacement from sediment-rich floods that originated on Mount Rainier. Facies S consists of stacked, sheet-like deposits of andesitic sand up to 4 m thick that are continuous across the entire width of the delta. Flat-lying, highly reflective surfaces separate the sand sheets and comprise important facies boundaries. Beds of massive, pumice- and charcoal-rich sand overlie one of the buried surfaces. Organic-rich material from that surface, beneath the massive sand, yielded a radiocarbon age that is time-correlative with a series of known eruptive events that generated lahars in the upper Nisqually River valley. Facies CF consists of linear sandbodies or palaeochannels incised into facies S on the lower delta plain. Radiocarbon ages of wood fragments in the sandy channel-fill deposits also correlate in time to lahar deposits in upstream areas. Intrusive, sand-filled dikes and sills indicate liquefaction caused by post-depositional ground shaking related to earthquakes. Continued progradation of the delta into Puget Sound is currently balanced by tidal-current reworking, which redistributes sediment into large fields of ebb- and flood-oriented bedforms.This study was supported by the Coastal and Marine Geology Program, and the Earthquake Hazards Program of the U.S. Geological Survey

Comparing Presenting Clinical Features in 48 Children With Microscopic Polyangiitis to 183 Children Who Have Granulomatosis With Polyangiitis (Wegener's) : an ARChiVe Cohort Study

OBJECTIVE: To uniquely classify children with microscopic polyangiitis (MPA), to describe their demographic characteristics, presenting clinical features, and initial treatments in comparison to patients with granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Wegener's) (GPA). METHODS: The European Medicines Agency (EMA) classification algorithm was applied by computation to categorical data from patients recruited to the ARChiVe (A Registry for Childhood Vasculitis: e-entry) cohort, with the data censored to November 2015. The EMA algorithm was used to uniquely distinguish children with MPA from children with GPA, whose diagnoses had been classified according to both adult- and pediatric-specific criteria. Descriptive statistics were used for comparisons. RESULTS: In total, 231 of 440 patients (64% female) fulfilled the classification criteria for either MPA (n\u2009=\u200948) or GPA (n\u2009=\u2009183). The median time to diagnosis was 1.6 months in the MPA group and 2.1 months in the GPA group (ranging to 39 and 73 months, respectively). Patients with MPA were significantly younger than those with GPA (median age 11 years versus 14 years). Constitutional features were equally common between the groups. In patients with MPA compared to those with GPA, pulmonary manifestations were less frequent (44% versus 74%) and less severe (primarily, hemorrhage, requirement for supplemental oxygen, and pulmonary failure). Renal pathologic features were frequently found in both groups (75% of patients with MPA versus 83% of patients with GPA) but tended toward greater severity in those with MPA (primarily, nephrotic-range proteinuria, requirement for dialysis, and end-stage renal disease). Airway/eye involvement was absent among patients with MPA, because these GPA-defining features preclude a diagnosis of MPA within the EMA algorithm. Similar proportions of patients with MPA and those with GPA received combination therapy with corticosteroids plus cyclophosphamide (69% and 78%, respectively) or both drugs in combination with plasmapheresis (19% and 22%, respectively). Other treatments administered, ranging in decreasing frequency from 13% to 3%, were rituximab, methotrexate, azathioprine, and mycophenolate mofetil. CONCLUSION: Younger age at disease onset and, perhaps, both gastrointestinal manifestations and more severe kidney disease seem to characterize the clinical profile in children with MPA compared to those with GPA. Delay in diagnosis suggests that recognition of these systemic vasculitides is suboptimal. Compared with adults, initial treatment regimens in children were comparable, but the complete reversal of female-to-male disease prevalence ratios is a provocative finding

Factors Associated with Revision Surgery after Internal Fixation of Hip Fractures

Background: Femoral neck fractures are associated with high rates of revision surgery after management with internal fixation. Using data from the Fixation using Alternative Implants for the Treatment of Hip fractures (FAITH) trial evaluating methods of internal fixation in patients with femoral neck fractures, we investigated associations between baseline and surgical factors and the need for revision surgery to promote healing, relieve pain, treat infection or improve function over 24 months postsurgery. Additionally, we investigated factors associated with (1) hardware removal and (2) implant exchange from cancellous screws (CS) or sliding hip screw (SHS) to total hip arthroplasty, hemiarthroplasty, or another internal fixation device. Methods: We identified 15 potential factors a priori that may be associated with revision surgery, 7 with hardware removal, and 14 with implant exchange. We used multivariable Cox proportional hazards analyses in our investigation. Results: Factors associated with increased risk of revision surgery included: female sex, [hazard ratio (HR) 1.79, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.25-2.50; P = 0.001], higher body mass index (fo

Littoral Sedimentary Processes on Kauai, A Subtropical High Island

Beach and shallow water sand samples from the island of Kauai, Hawaiian Islands, were studied to ascertain the effects of climate on the supply of sediment, and of wave action on the dispersal and transport of sand along the shores of this circular island. The littoral sediment s of the island are made up of two components: biogenous material, such as shell, coral, and foraminiferal sands, formed near the shoreline; and terrigenous material, consisting mostly of volcanic mineral and rock fragments brought to the beach by rivers. The northeast trade winds play a dominant part in the climatic and oceanographic processes affecting the island. On the windward side of Kauai, the annual rainfall ranges from 30 inches near the coast to over 460 inches at higher elevations; on the leeward side, annual rainfall is less than 20 inches. This large variation in rainfall results in a climatic range from tropic-humid to semi-arid. Rivers draining the wet, windward port ion of the island carry relatively little sand, and the shoreline on this side is characterized by intermittent fringing reefs and beaches of calcareous sand. A detail ed study of several reefs on the windward side of the island shows that each pair of fringing reefs, divided by a relatively deep inlet, constitute separate cells for the circulation of water and distribution of sediments. The highest concentrations of volcanic sand occur on the lee side of the island , where streams draining the semi-arid region enter the coast. The concentration of volcanic material in the beach sands decreases logarithmically with distance along the coast from the rivers