“Tax Simplification”—Grave Threat to the Charitable Contribution Deduction: The Problem and a Proposed Solution

The present National Administration has continued to support proposed legislative changes aimed at substantially reducing the number of income tax returns in which deductions are itemized. The author contends that these tax simplification proposals are incompatible with the preservation of the charitable contribution deduction and would undermine the position of voluntary charitable organizations by reducing the incentives for giving. He proposes a solution to this dilemma by promoting the charitable contribution deduction, with certain limitations, to the position of a deduction from gross income, rather than a deduction from adjusted gross income

Distribution and Efficiency of Hydrocarbon-Oxidizing Bacteria in a Freshwater Reservoir

Hydrocarbon-oxidizing bacteria were identified from three stations on DeGray Reservoir, Arkansas. The organisms were primarily gram-negative rods representing 9 taxa and 37 biotypes Pseudomonas spp. were the most common isolates. The largest populations were found in areas most frequently used by boaters, although seasonal fluctuations were apparent during the spring and fall. The degradation of outboard motor oil by the five most rapidly growing isolates was studied. Each species had a different decomposition profile, and substrate oxidation rates were variable Acinetobacter calcoaceticus var. anitratus was the most efficient decomposer

A Survey Of The Attitudes Of Selected Counselors, Administrators, And Students In California Toward The Utilization Of Computers And A Computer-Based Career Information System

At least 45 states have or are developing statewide computer-based career information systems. Super, McKinlay, Norris and others have speculated that school counselors hold negative attitudes toward the use of computers. But no study was found exploring the presence, extent or nature of this supposed resistance . This study investigated attitudes of selected counselors, students, and pupil personnel administrators toward the utilization of computers and a computer-based career information system in career counseling. Computer-based systems for both career information and guidance work were reviewed as to operation and classification, historical perspectives, evaluation studies, and probable future use and potential. Subjects in the study were 124 high school and community college counselors, 987 students, and 20 pupil personnel administrators in California schools and colleges in which a computer-based career information system known as EUREKA had been in use for at least a year. Data were collected using three surveys developed by the researcher. Results of the data analysis indicate that assumptions regarding counselors holding negative attitudes toward the use of computers in career counseling need to be revised. The responses of the counselors included in the study were highly positive in relation to the use of computers in career counseling programs. Conclusions presented reveal that all sample groups agree: 1) computers are valuable tools whose use frees counselors to devote more time to services best provided by a counselor; 2) computer-based Career Information System\u27s costs are not excessive compared to the benefits; 3) computers will become more important as career counseling tools; 4) future and practicing counselors should receive computer training; 5) the EUREKA CIS was rated highly both as a career counseling tool and as a valuable source of information for students; and, 6) students prefer to use a computer based CIS rather than the usual book and filing cabinet approach in career research

Blind Identification of Block Interleaved Convolution Code Parameters

Most of the digital communication system uses forward error correction (FEC) in addition with interleaver to achieve reliable communication over a noisy channel. To get useful information from intercepted data, in non-cooperative context, it is necessary to have algoritihms for blind identification of FEC code and interleaver parameters. In this paper, a matrix rank-based algebraic algorithm for the joint and blind identification of block interleaved convolution code parameters for cases, where interleaving length is not necessarily an integer multiple of codeword length is presented. From simulations, it is observed that the code rate and block interleaver length are identified correctly with probability of detection equal to 1 for bit error rate values of less than or equal to 10-4

Downdraft gasification of biomass

The objectives of this research were to investigate the parameters affecting the gasification process within downdraft gasifiers using biomass feedstocks. In addition to investigations with an open-core gasifier, a novel open-topped throated gasifier was designed and used. A sampling system was designed and installed to determine the water, tar and particular content of the raw product gas. This permitted evaluation of the effects of process parameters and reactor design on tar and particular production, although a large variation was found for the particulate measurements due to the capture of large particles. For both gasifiers, the gasification process was studied in order to identify and compare the mechanisms controlling the position and shape of the reaction zones. The stability of the reaction zone was found to be governed by the superficial gas velocity within the reactor. A superficial gas velocity below 0.2 Nms-1 resulted in a rising reaction zone in both gasifiers. Turndown is achieved when the rate of char production by flaming pyrolysis equals the rate of char gasification over a range of throughputs. A turndown ratio of 2:1 was achieved for the hybrid-throated gasifier, compared to 1.3:1 for the open-core. It is hypothesized that pyrolysis is a surface area phenomenon, and that in the hybrid gasifier the pyrolysis front can expand to form a dome-shape. The rate of char gasification is believed to increase as the depth of the gasification zone increases. Vibration of the open-core reactor bed decreased the bed pressure drop, reduced the voidage, aided solids flow and gave a minor improvement in the product gas energy content. Insulation improved the performance of both reactors by reducing heat losses resulting in a reduced air to feed ratio requirement. The hybrid gasifier gave a higher energy conversion efficiency, a higher product gas heating value, and a lower tar content than the open-core gasifier due to efficient gas mixing in a high temperature tar cracking region below the throat and reduced heat losses

Topologically protected charge transfer along the edge of a chiral p\textit{p}-wave superconductor

The Majorana fermions propagating along the edge of a topological superconductor with $p_x+ip_y$ pairing deliver a shot noise power of $\frac{1}{2}\times e^2/h$ per eV of voltage bias. We calculate the full counting statistics of the transferred charge and find that it becomes trinomial in the low-temperature limit, distinct from the binomial statistics of charge-$e$ transfer in a single-mode nanowire or charge-$2e$ transfer through a normal-superconductor interface. All even-order correlators of current fluctuations have a universal quantized value, insensitive to disorder and decoherence. These electrical signatures are experimentally accessible, because they persist for temperatures and voltages large compared to the Thouless energy.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. v3 [post-publication]: added an appendix on the effect of a tunnel barrier at the normal-superconductor contac

New Navy Fighting Machine in the South China Sea

Through the perspective of Hughes, Wayne P.' missile salvo equation, this research examined naval surface forces of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the United States (U.S.) in order to demonstrate how American surface combatants can defeat PRC anti-access area denial (A2AD) measures in the South China Sea (SCS). Hughes' equation reveals that advantages for American surface forces are obtained by increasing fleet numbers, counter-targeting (CT), and increased scouting. This thesis advocates fleet growth as articulated in Hughes' New Navy Fighting Machine (NNFM) study. Comparisons of the NNFM, the U.S. fleet, and the PRC fleet demonstrate both the disparity facing the American surface forces, and the near parity obtained in the NNFM. CT through unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), and naval obscurants provide American surface forces increased staying power and tactical advantage. Scouting and communications networking through a theater wide constellation of airships provide the American fleet with persistent situational awareness of the battle space, tactical communications with subsurface forces, and improved emissions control (EMCON) measures for surface forces. The distributive properties of the NNFM, combined with this study's CT and scouting findings, offer American surface combatants success over the PRC Navy in the SCS scenario.http://archive.org/details/newnavyfightingm109457408Lieutenant, United States Navy,Lieutenant, United States Nav

What Can Wireless Cellular Technologies Do about the Upcoming Smart Metering Traffic?

The introduction of smart electricity meters with cellular radio interface puts an additional load on the wireless cellular networks. Currently, these meters are designed for low duty cycle billing and occasional system check, which generates a low-rate sporadic traffic. As the number of distributed energy resources increases, the household power will become more variable and thus unpredictable from the viewpoint of the Distribution System Operator (DSO). It is therefore expected, in the near future, to have an increased number of Wide Area Measurement System (WAMS) devices with Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU)-like capabilities in the distribution grid, thus allowing the utilities to monitor the low voltage grid quality while providing information required for tighter grid control. From a communication standpoint, the traffic profile will change drastically towards higher data volumes and higher rates per device. In this paper, we characterize the current traffic generated by smart electricity meters and supplement it with the potential traffic requirements brought by introducing enhanced Smart Meters, i.e., meters with PMU-like capabilities. Our study shows how GSM/GPRS and LTE cellular system performance behaves with the current and next generation smart meters traffic, where it is clearly seen that the PMU data will seriously challenge these wireless systems. We conclude by highlighting the possible solutions for upgrading the cellular standards, in order to cope with the upcoming smart metering traffic.Comment: Submitted; change: corrected location of eSM box in Fig. 1; May 22, 2015: Major revision after review; v4: revised, accepted for publicatio

Improving Mechanical Ventilator Clinical Decision Support Systems with A Machine Learning Classifier for Determining Ventilator Mode

Clinical decision support systems (CDSS) will play an in-creasing role in improving the quality of medical care for critically ill patients. However, due to limitations in current informatics infrastructure, CDSS do not always have com-plete information on state of supporting physiologic monitor-ing devices, which can limit the input data available to CDSS. This is especially true in the use case of mechanical ventilation (MV), where current CDSS have no knowledge of critical ventilation settings, such as ventilation mode. To enable MV CDSS to make accurate recommendations related to ventilator mode, we developed a highly performant ma-chine learning model that is able to perform per-breath clas-sification of 5 of the most widely used ventilation modes in the USA with an average F1-score of 97.52%. We also show how our approach makes methodologic improvements over previous work and that it is highly robust to missing data caused by software/sensor error