Cooperation on Competition: The Multistate Tax Commission and State Corporate Tax Uniformity

This report explores how interstate uniformity of state corporate income taxes has varied over time, the role played by the MTC, and how likely it is that uniformity will be achieved. FRC Report 11

Compositional Diversity of Late Cenozoic Basalts in a Transect Across the Southern Washington Cascades: Implications for Subduction Zone Magmatism

Major volcanoes of the Southern Washington Cascades (SWC) include the large Quaternary stratovolcanoes of Mount St. Helens (MSH) and Mount Adams (MA) and the Indian Heaven (IH) and Simcoe Mountain (SIM) volcanic fields. There are significant differences among these volcanic centers in terms of their composition and evolutionary history. The stratovolcanoes consist largely of andesitic to dacitic lavas and pyroclastics with minor basalt flows. IH consists dominantly of basaltic with minor andesite lavas, all erupted from monogenetic rift and cinder cone vents. SIM has a poorly exposed andesite to rhyolite core but mainly consists of basaltic lavas erupted from numerous widely dispersed vents; it has the morphology of a shield volcano. Distribution of mafic lavas across the SWC is related to north‐northwest trending faults and fissure zones that indicate a significant component of east–west extension within the area. There is overlap in eruptive history for the areas studied, but it appears that peak activity was progressively older (MSH (Ka), IH (mostl

Preliminary Solar Sail Design and Fabrication Assessment: Spinning Sail Blade, Square Sail Sheet

Blade design aspects most affecting producibility and means of measurement and control of length, scallop, fullness and straightness requirements and tolerances were extensively considered. Alternate designs of the panel seams and edge reinforcing members are believed to offer advantages of seam integrity, producibility, reliability, cost and weight. Approaches to and requirements for highly specialized metalizing methods, processes and equipment were studied and identified. Alternate methods of sail blade fabrication and related special machinery, tooling, fixtures and trade offs were examined. A preferred and recommended approach is also described. Quality control plans, inspection procedures, flow charts and special test equipment associated with the preferred manufacturing method were analyzed and are discussed

Loss of Niemann Pick type C proteins 1 and 2 greatly enhances HIV infectivity and is associated with accumulation of HIV Gag and cholesterol in late endosomes/lysosomes

Abstract Background Cholesterol pathways play an important role at multiple stages during the HIV-1 infection cycle. Here, we investigated the role of cholesterol trafficking in HIV-1 replication utilizing Niemann-Pick Type C disease (NPCD) cells as a model system. Results We used a unique NPC2-deficient cell line (NPCD55) that exhibited Gag accumulation as well as decreased NPC1 expression after HIV infection. Virus release efficiency from NPCD55 cells was similar to that from control cells. However, we observed a 3 to 4-fold enhancement in the infectivity of virus released from these cells. Fluorescence microscopy revealed accumulation and co-localization of Gag proteins with cholesterol in late endosomal/lysosomal (LE/L) compartments of these cells. Virion-associated cholesterol was 4-fold higher in virions produced in NPCD55 cells relative to virus produced in control cells. Treatment of infected NPCD55 cells with the cholesterol efflux-inducing drug TO-9013171 reduced virus infectivity to control levels. Conclusions These results suggest cholesterol trafficking and localization can profoundly affect HIV-1 infectivity by modulating the cholesterol content of the virions.</p

Modelling the petrogenesis of high Rb/Sr silicic magmas

Rhyolites can be highly evolved with Sr contents as low as 0.1 ppm and Rb/Sr &gt; 2,000. In contrast, granite batholiths are commonly comprised of rocks with Rb/Sr 100. Mass-balance modelling of source compositions, differentiation and contamination using the trace-element geochemistry of granites are therefore commonly in error because of the failure to account for evolved differentiates that may have been erupted from the system. Rhyolitic magmas with very low Sr concentrations ([les]1 ppm) cannot be explained by any partial melting models involving typical crustal source compositions. The only plausible mechanism for the production of such rhyolites is Rayleigh fractional crystallization involving substantial volumes of cumulates. A variety of methods for modelling the differentiation of magmas with extremely high Rb/Sr is discussed. In each case it is concluded that the bulk partition coefficients for Sr have to be large. In the simplest models, the bulk DSr of the most evolved types is modelled as &gt; 50. Evidence from phenocryst/glass/whole-rock concentrations supports high Sr partition coefficients in feldspars from high silica rhyolites. However, the low modal abundance of plagioclase commonly observed in such rocks is difficult to reconcile with such simple fractionation models of the observed trace-element trends. In certain cases, this may be because the apparent trace-element trend defined by the suite of cognetic rhyolites is the product of different batches of magma with separate differentiation histories accumulating in the magma chamber roof zone.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/29127/1/0000166.pd

Biallelic mutations in valyl-tRNA synthetase gene VARS are associated with a progressive neurodevelopmental epileptic encephalopathy.

Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (ARSs) function to transfer amino acids to cognate tRNA molecules, which are required for protein translation. To date, biallelic mutations in 31 ARS genes are known to cause recessive, early-onset severe multi-organ diseases. VARS encodes the only known valine cytoplasmic-localized aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase. Here, we report seven patients from five unrelated families with five different biallelic missense variants in VARS. Subjects present with a range of global developmental delay, epileptic encephalopathy and primary or progressive microcephaly. Longitudinal assessment demonstrates progressive cortical atrophy and white matter volume loss. Variants map to the VARS tRNA binding domain and adjacent to the anticodon domain, and disrupt highly conserved residues. Patient primary cells show intact VARS protein but reduced enzymatic activity, suggesting partial loss of function. The implication of VARS in pediatric neurodegeneration broadens the spectrum of human diseases due to mutations in tRNA synthetase genes

Two-Loop O(αsGFmt2){\cal O}(\alpha_sG_Fm_t^2) Corrections to the Fermionic Decay Rates of the Standard-Model Higgs Boson

Low- and intermediate mass Higgs bosons decay preferably into fermion pairs. The one-loop electroweak corrections to the respective decay rates are dominated by a flavour-independent term of ${\cal O}(G_Fm_t^2)$. We calculate the two-loop gluon correction to this term. It turns out that this correction screens the leading high-$m_t$ behaviour of the one-loop result by roughly 10\%. We also present the two-loop QCD correction to the contribution induced by a pair of fourth-generation quarks with arbitrary masses. As expected, the inclusion of the QCD correction considerably reduces the renormalization-scheme dependence of the prediction.Comment: 14 pages, latex, figures 2-5 appended, DESY 94-08

Physics Opportunities of e+e- Linear Colliders

We describe the anticipated experimental program of an e+e- linear collider in the energy range 500 GeV -- 1.5 TeV. We begin with a description of current collider designs and the expected experimental environment. We then discuss precision studies of the W boson and top quark. Finally, we review the range of models proposed to explain the physics of electroweak symmetry breaking and show, for each case, the central role that the linear collider experiments will play in elucidating this physics. (to appear in Annual Reviews of Nuclear and Particle Science)Comment: 93 pages, latex + 23 figures; typos corrections + 1 reference adde

Testing the Higgs boson gluonic couplings at LHC

We study Higgs + jet production at hadron colliders in order to look for new physics residual effects possibly described by the $dim=6$ operators {\O}_{GG} and {\widetilde\O}_{GG} which induce anomalous $Hgg$ and $Hggg$ couplings. Two ways for constraining these operators at LHC may be ~useful. The first is based on the total Higgs boson production rate induced by gluon-gluon fusion, in which the main cause of limitations are due to theoretical uncertainties leading to sensitivities of $|d_G|\simeq 3.\times 10^{-4}$ and $|\widetilde{d}_G|\simeq 1.4\times 10^{-3}$ for the corresponding anomalous couplings, in the mass range 100 GeV \lsim \mh \lsim 2~00 GeV. These results imply sensitivity to new physics scales of 51 and 24 TeV respectively. The second way investigated here concerns the shape of the Higgs transverse momentum; for which the theoretical uncertainties are less severe and the limitations are mainly induced by statistics. A simple analysis, based on the ratio of the number of events at large and low $p_T$ at LHC, leads to similar sensitivities, if only the $H\to \gamma \gamma$ decay mode is used. But the sensitivities can now be improved by a factor 2 to 10, depending on the Higgs mass, if the Higgs decay modes to $WW^*$, $ZZ^*$, $WW$, $ZZ$ are also used.Comment: 23 pages and 7 figures, version to appear in Phys.ReV.D. e-mail: [email protected]