Miller v. Commissioner: Deductibility of Casualty Losses After Voluntary Election Not to File an Insurance Claim

Taxpayers who suffer casualty losses may decide, for a variety of reasons, not to file an insurance claim for recovery of those losses. Section 165 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 allows a deduction for “any loss sustained during the taxable year and not compensated for by insurance or otherwise.”\u27 Consequently, the question arises whether a taxpayer may claim a casualty loss deduction even though the taxpayer did not seek insurance reimbursement for the loss. In Miller v. Commissioner, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in a 6-5 en banc decision, expressly overruled its previous decision in Kentucky Utilities Co. v. Glenn and held that a taxpayer who voluntarily chooses not to file an insurance claim for recovery of a loss could still claim a section 165 deduction. Part I of this comment examines the Miller holding and its underlying rationale. Part II addresses the impact of Miller on federal income tax law and suggests that by overruling Kentucky Utilities, Miller changes the law regarding the deductibility of losses under section 165 after a voluntary election not to file an insurance claim. Part III concludes that the Sixth Circuit\u27s literal interpretation of section 165(a)\u27s language “not compensated for by insurance or otherwise”\u27 is a significant defeat for the Internal Revenue Service

DETERMINING THE GROUND REACTION FORCE EXPERIENCED IN BEACH RUNNING

INTRODUCTION: Running on a beach is a popular fitness activity, as well as a critical component in the professional sport of ironman. In this event, ironmen athletes run over terrain ranging from wet compacted sand to dry uncompacted sand, as their distance from the ocean surf line increases. The dynamic loading response of sand surfaces at the extremes of this range has been investigated recently by Barrett et al. using a force plate, and variables such as the peak impact force and the surface stiffness were calculated. In this study we demonstrate how the time response of the ground reaction force (GRF) experienced in beach running can be predicted from the measured plate reaction force, for either wet or dry sand surfaces. METHODS: The ground reaction force experienced in beach running can be measured directly using an accelerometer attached to the runner’s lower extremity. However it is often more convenient to sample the reaction force from a sandcovered force plate in a controlled environment. This idea motivated us to consider the resulting problem of determining the GRF indirectly using the measured plate force. In the measurement process, the instrument response of the force plate, which can be described in the linear regime by a transfer function, is convoluted with the GRF in the time domain. Thus in order to reconstruct the GRF we need to apply the reverse process: a deconvolution of the measured plate force using a known transfer function. The deconvolution is performed in the frequency domain. The transfer function corresponding to the force plate has to be determined a priori by „calibrating“ direct GRF measurements with plate force measurements. RESULTS: The reconstruction of the GRF allows us to estimate any physical quantity we are interested in, such as the time of delay between the moment of impact and the trigger of the plate force reaction, or the peak GRF. We have also determined that the frequency characteristics of the force plate transfer function depend on the impact mass, the impact energy and the effective depth of the sand, and have investigated the changes apparent in this parameter space. CONCLUSIONS: The transfer function approach presented in this study reconstructs the time response of the GRF experienced in beach running conditions, using plate force measurements. Thus, with the exception of calibration measurements, we can eliminate the need to attach an accelerometer to the runner when taking GRF measurements. REFERENCES: Barrett, R.S., Neal, R.J., Roberts, L.J. (1998). The Dynamic Loading Response of Surfaces Encountered in Beach Running. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport 1, 3-13, 1998

EPR, Bell, and Quantum Locality

Maudlin has claimed that no local theory can reproduce the predictions of standard quantum mechanics that violate Bell's inequality for Bohm's version (two spin-half particles in a singlet state) of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen problem. It is argued that, on the contrary, standard quantum mechanics itself is a counterexample to Maudlin's claim, because it is local in the appropriate sense (measurements at one place do not influence what occurs elsewhere there) when formulated using consistent principles in place of the inconsistent appeals to "measurement" found in current textbooks. This argument sheds light on the claim of Blaylock that counterfactual definiteness is an essential ingredient in derivations of Bell's inequality.Comment: Minor revisions to previous versio

VarDict: a novel and versatile variant caller for next-generation sequencing in cancer research

Accurate variant calling in next generation sequencing (NGS) is critical to understand cancer genomes better. Here we present VarDict, a novel and versatile variant caller for both DNA- and RNA-sequencing data. VarDict simultaneously calls SNV, MNV, InDels, complex and structural variants, expanding the detected genetic driver landscape of tumors. It performs local realignments on the fly for more accurate allele frequency estimation. VarDict performance scales linearly to sequencing depth, enabling ultra-deep sequencing used to explore tumor evolution or detect tumor DNA circulating in blood. In addition, VarDict performs amplicon aware variant calling for polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based targeted sequencing often used in diagnostic settings, and is able to detect PCR artifacts. Finally, VarDict also detects differences in somatic and loss of heterozygosity variants between paired samples. VarDict reprocessing of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) Lung Adenocarcinoma dataset called known driver mutations in KRAS, EGFR, BRAF, PIK3CA and MET in 16% more patients than previously published variant calls. We believe VarDict will greatly facilitate application of NGS in clinical cancer research

Comparison of high-specific-activity ultratrace 123/131I-MIBG and carrier-added 123/131I-MIBG on efficacy, pharmacokinetics, and tissue distribution

Metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) is an enzymatically stable synthetic analog of norepinephrine that when radiolabled with diagnostic ((123)I) or therapeutic ((131)I) isotopes has been shown to concentrate highly in sympathetically innervated tissues such as the heart and neuroendocrine tumors that possesses high levels of norepinephrine transporter (NET). As the transport of MIBG by NET is a saturable event, the specific activity of the preparation may have dramatic effects on both the efficacy and safety of the radiodiagnostic/radiotherapeutic. Using a solid labeling approach (Ultratrace), noncarrier-added radiolabeled MIBG can be efficiently produced. In this study, specific activities of >1200 mCi/micromol for (123)I and >1600 mCi/micromol for (131)I have been achieved. A series of studies were performed to assess the impact of cold carrier MIBG on the tissue distribution of (123/131)I-MIBG in the conscious rat and on cardiovascular parameters in the conscious instrumented dog. The present series of studies demonstrated that the carrier-free Ultratrace MIBG radiolabeled with either (123)I or (131)I exhibited similar tissue distribution to the carrier-added radiolabeled MIBG in all nontarget tissues. In tissues that express NETs, the higher the specific activity of the preparation the greater will be the radiopharmaceutical uptake. This was reflected by greater efficacy in the mouse neuroblastoma SK-N-BE(2c) xenograft model and less appreciable cardiovascular side-effects in dogs when the high-specific-activity radiopharmaceutical was used. The increased uptake and retention of Ultratrace (123/131)I-MIBG may translate into a superior diagnostic and therapeutic potential. Lastly, care must be taken when administering therapeutic doses of the current carrier-added (131)I-MIBG because of its potential to cause adverse cardiovascular side-effects, nausea, and vomiting

First evidence for a latitudinal body mass effect in extant Crocodylia and the relationships of their reproductive characters

Relationships between distribution patterns and body size have been documented in many endothermic taxa. However, the evidence for these trends in ectotherms generally is equivocal, and there have been no studies of effects in crocodylians specifically. Here, we examine the relationship between latitudinal distribution and body mass in 20 extant species of crocodylians, as well as the relationships between seven important reproductive variables. Using phylogenetically independent contrasts to inform generalized linear models, we provide the first evidence of a latitudinal effect on adult female body mass in crocodylians. In addition, we explore the relationships between reproductive variables including egg mass, hatchling mass and clutch size. We report no correlation between egg mass and clutch size, upholding previously reported within-species trends. We also find no evidence of a correlation between measures of latitudinal range and incubation temperature, contrasting with the trends found in turtles