Effect of IRC Code 1031 on Texas Agricultural Land Price

In this paper, we examine the effect of Section 1031 tax deferred payment on Texas agricultural land price. To analyze the effects, we estimate the market equilibrium price function using the dynamic panel model and Texas agricultural land sales for 1965-2007. We argue that Section 1031 increases both demand and supply of agricultural land by its tax reducing effect. Our empirical estimation shows that Section 1031 decreases the market price which means the supply curve shifted to the right more than the demand curve.Land Economics/Use,

Case Series: Continued Remission of PTSD Symptoms After Discontinuation of Prazosin

Post-traumatic stress disorder is a debilitating chronic illness that affects 6 out of 100 adults after a severe trauma. The alpha-adrenergic antagonist prazosin, which is prescribed off-label for flashbacks and nightmares due to trauma, is often continued indefinitely due to reports of symptoms returning upon discontinuation. There is no standard guidance for a trial of discontinuation of prazosin due to intolerance or side effects. In this case series, three patients are started on prazosin leading to remission of trauma-related symptoms, and symptoms continue to remit after treatment for an average of about 2 years followed by discontinuation of the medication. There are many similarities in these case reports which serve to provide guidance as to when a trial of prazosin discontinuation may be warranted

Intensity measurement bend sensors based on periodically tapered soft glass fibers

We demonstrate a novel technique for tapering periodically an all-solid soft glass fiber, consisting of two types of lead silicate glasses, by the use of a focused CO2 laser beam and investigate the bend sensing applications of the periodically-tapered soft glass fiber. Such a soft glass fiber with periodic microtapers could be used to develop promising bend sensors with a sensitivity of -27.75 µW/m-1 by means of measuring the bend-induced change of light intensity. The proposed bend sensor exhibits a very low measurement error of down to ±1%

Haplotype and isoform specific expression estimation using multi-mapping RNA-seq reads

We present a novel pipeline and methodology for simultaneously estimating isoform expression and allelic imbalance in diploid organisms using RNA-seq data. We achieve this by modeling the expression of haplotype-specific isoforms. If unknown, the two parental isoform sequences can be individually reconstructed. A new statistical method, MMSEQ, deconvolves the mapping of reads to multiple transcripts (isoforms or haplotype-specific isoforms). Our software can take into account non-uniform read generation and works with paired-end reads

Ionospheric response to the corotating interaction region-driven geomagnetic storm of October 2002

Unlike the geomagnetic storms produced by coronal mass ejections (CMEs), the storms generated by corotating interaction regions (CIRs) are not manifested by dramatic enhancements of the ring current. The CIR-driven storms are however capable of producing other phenomena typical for the magnetic storms such as relativistic particle acceleration, enhanced magnetospheric convection and ionospheric heating. This paper examines ionospheric plasma anomalies produced by a CIR-driven storm in the middle- and high-latitude ionosphere with a specific focus on the polar cap region. The moderate magnetic storm which took place on 14–17 October 2002 has been used as an example of the CIR-driven event. Four-dimensional tomographic reconstructions of the ionospheric plasma density using measurements of the total electron content along ray paths of GPS signals allow us to reveal the large-scale structure of storm-induced ionospheric anomalies. The tomographic reconstructions are compared with the data obtained by digital ionosonde located at Eureka station near the geomagnetic north pole. The morphology and dynamics of the observed ionospheric anomalies is compared qualitatively to the ionospheric anomalies produced by major CME-driven storms. It is demonstrated that the CIR-driven storm of October 2002 was able to produce ionospheric anomalies comparable to those produced by CME-driven storms of much greater Dst magnitude. This study represents an important step in linking the tomographic GPS reconstructions with the data from ground-based network of digital ionosondes

Aspherical gravitational monopoles

We show how to construct non-spherically-symmetric extended bodies of uniform density behaving exactly as pointlike masses. These ``gravitational monopoles'' have the following equivalent properties: (i) they generate, outside them, a spherically-symmetric gravitational potential $M/|x - x_O|$; (ii) their interaction energy with an external gravitational potential $U(x)$ is $- M U(x_O)$; and (iii) all their multipole moments (of order $l \geq 1$) with respect to their center of mass $O$ vanish identically. The method applies for any number of space dimensions. The free parameters entering the construction are: (1) an arbitrary surface $\Sigma$ bounding a connected open subset $\Omega$ of $R^3$; (2) the arbitrary choice of the center of mass $O$ within $\Omega$; and (3) the total volume of the body. An extension of the method allows one to construct homogeneous bodies which are gravitationally equivalent (in the sense of having exactly the same multipole moments) to any given body.Comment: 55 pages, Latex , submitted to Nucl.Phys.

Searching for Saturn's Dust Swarm: Limits on the size distribution of Irregular Satellites from km to micron sizes

We describe a search for dust created in collisions between the Saturnian irregular satellites using archival \emph{Spitzer} MIPS observations. Although we detected a degree scale Saturn-centric excess that might be attributed to an irregular satellite dust cloud, we attribute it to the far-field wings of the PSF due to nearby Saturn. The Spitzer PSF is poorly characterised at such radial distances, and we expect PSF characterisation to be the main issue for future observations that aim to detect such dust. The observations place an upper limit on the level of dust in the outer reaches of the Saturnian system, and constrain how the size distribution extrapolates from the smallest known (few km) size irregulars down to micron-size dust. Because the size distribution is indicative of the strength properties of irregulars, we show how our derived upper limit implies irregular satellite strengths more akin to comets than asteroids. This conclusion is consistent with their presumed capture from the outer regions of the Solar System.Comment: accepted to MNRA

Chromosome Association of Minichromosome Maintenance Proteins in Drosophila Endoreplication Cycles

Minichromosome maintenance (MCM) proteins are essential eukaryotic DNA replication factors. The binding of MCMs to chromatin oscillates in conjunction with progress through the mitotic cell cycle. This oscillation is thought to play an important role in coupling DNA replication to mitosis and limiting chromosome duplication to once per cell cycle. The coupling of DNA replication to mitosis is absent in Drosophila endoreplication cycles (endocycles), during which discrete rounds of chromosome duplication occur without intervening mitoses. We examined the behavior of MCM proteins in endoreplicating larval salivary glands, to determine whether oscillation of MCM–chromosome localization occurs in conjunction with passage through an endocycle S phase. We found that MCMs in polytene nuclei exist in two states: associated with or dissociated from chromosomes. We demonstrate that cyclin E can drive chromosome association of DmMCM2 and that DNA synthesis erases this association. We conclude that mitosis is not required for oscillations in chromosome binding of MCMs and propose that cycles of MCM–chromosome association normally occur in endocycles. These results are discussed in a model in which the cycle of MCM–chromosome associations is uncoupled from mitosis because of the distinctive program of cyclin expression in endocycles