Missouri Use Tax: Matching the Burdens to the Benefits of Ownership, The

This Note examines Missouri’s use tax under a set of particularly interesting and complex circumstances. In the instant case, Fall Creek Construction Company, Inc. v. Director of Revenue, a corporation conducting business in several states owned a fractional interest in transient personal property that was part of a much larger interchange agreement. This case illustrates the breadth and effect of Missouri’s use tax, raises question about how fractional ownership and interchange agreements may affect the use tax analysis, and reflects the Missouri Supreme Court’s unwillingness to permit taxpayers to enjoy the advantages of ownership without also bearing the burdens associated with those benefits

The Role of Weather in the Social and Economic Lives of Plantation Owners in Antebellum Beaufort District, South Carolina

Weather can determine social, agricultural, and economic impacts on a society. There has been a lot of contemporary research on adaptation and experiences in severe weather events. However, there is a lack of historical research. This study uses primary sources, such as journals, newspapers, and maps, to look into the impact that weather has on people during a study time. Primary sources, like Thomas Chaplin’s Tombee Plantation Journal, provide more than a physical description of the event that occurred. These historical sources present various perspectives, such as personal and emotional, of people in South Carolina’s Beaufort District and its sea islands in the antebellum period. Through the assessment of primary and secondary sources during the Great Carolina Hurricane of 1854, this study shows that these historical sources help explain the social and economic impact on people during a meteorological event. This thesis helps raise questions about other meteorological events and offers suggestions for other sources that might help us find out more about impacts from historical meteorological and climatological events

Thinking about Grammar in the Middle School: A Study and Recommendations

The study involved 53 sixth graders in a small, rural town in southeastern Massachusetts. Its purpose was to identify some of the grammatical concepts held by these students. The survey is presented. Briefly, these students lack understanding of basic grammatical concepts (such as the subject/verb relationship and subject versus object). These and other misconceptions indicate that students do not understand the role of word function in language. A central finding about students\u27 attitudes toward grammar study is that students do not realize that they have intuitive knowledge of their native language. Although students are not sure what grammar is, most of them believe that grammar should be studies in the middle school. This thesis suggest that teachers strive to identify students\u27 misconceptions about language and devise ways to bring about changes in understanding. New learning ideally should be interactive as opposed to additive. A learner must relate a new idea to what is already known. A series of five lessons on language structure and a series of four lessons on contemporary usage are recommended. All lessons reflect a critical and creative thinking approach to learning. In this thesis, grammar is defined as meaning sentence structure but including usage. Grammar has always been a traditional part of the English language arts curriculum despite the fact that the study of grammar in isolation has been rejected by the National Council of Teachers of English. This thesis agrees with that view. The current literature on the teaching of grammar is reviewed. Grammar studies generally recommend integrating grammar into writing and reading, a whole language approach. Literature on early adolescent learner readiness is also reviewed. Three main issues are identified as being crucial to the well-being of early adolescents and their success in school: social- emotional development, biological development (i.e. brain growth), and cognitive development

Longwave Radiative Transfer In The Atmosphere: Model Development And Applications

Thesis (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2003A FLexible Radiative Transfer Tool (FLRTT) has been developed to facilitate the construction of longwave, correlated k-distribution, radiative transfer models. The correlated k-distribution method is a technique which accelerates calculations of radiances, fluxes, and cooling rates in inhomogeneous atmospheres; therefore, correlated k-distribution models are appropriate for simulations of satellite radiances and inclusion into general circulation models. FLRTT was used to build two new rapid radiative transfer models, RRTM_HIRS and RRTM_v3.0, which maintain accuracy comparable to the line-by-line radiative transfer model LBLRTM. Iacono et al. [2003] evaluated upper tropospheric water vapor (UTWV) simulated by the National Center for Atmospheric Research Community Climate Model, CCM3, by comparing modeled, clear-sky brightness-temperatures to those observed from space by the High-resolution Radiation Sounder (HIRS). CCM3 was modified to utilize the rapid radiative transfer model RRTM and the separate satellite-radiance module, RRTM_HIRS, which calculates brightness temperatures in two HIRS channels. By incorporating these accurate radiative transfer models into CCM3, the longwave radiative transfer calculations have been removed as a significant source of error in the simulations. An important result of this study is that CCM3 exhibits moist and dry discrepancies in UTWV of 50% in particular climatic regions, which may be attributed to errors in the CCM3 dynamical schemes. RRTM_v3.0, an update of RRTM, is a rapid longwave radiative transfer appropriate for use in general circulation models. Fluxes calculated by RRTM_v3.0 agree with those computed by the LBLRTM to within 1.0 W/m2 at all levels, and the computed cooling rates agree to within 0.1 K/day and 0.3 K/day in the troposphere and stratosphere, respectively. This thesis also assessed and improved the modeling of clear-sky, longwave radiative fluxes at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program North Slope of Alaska site by simultaneously addressing the specification of the atmosphere, radiometric measurements, and radiative transfer modeling. Consistent with findings from other field sites, the specification of the atmospheric water vapor is found to be a large source of uncertainty in modeled radiances and fluxes. Improvements in the specification of carbon dioxide optical depths within LBLRTM resulted, in part, from this analysis

Long-term deficits in cortical circuit function after asphyxial cardiac arrest and resuscitation in developing rats

AbstractCardiac arrest is a common cause of global hypoxic-ischemic brain injury. Poor neurologic outcome among cardiac arrest survivors results not only from direct cellular injury but also from subsequent long-term dysfunction of neuronal circuits. Here, we investigated the long-term impact of cardiac arrest during development on the function of cortical layer IV (L4) barrel circuits in the rat primary somatosensory cortex. We used multielectrode single-neuron recordings to examine responses of presumed excitatory L4 barrel neurons to controlled whisker stimuli in adult (8 ± 2-mo-old) rats that had undergone 9 min of asphyxial cardiac arrest and resuscitation during the third postnatal week. Results indicate that responses to deflections of the topographically appropriate principal whisker (PW) are smaller in magnitude in cardiac arrest survivors than in control rats. Responses to adjacent whisker (AW) deflections are similar in magnitude between the two groups. Because of a disproportionate decrease in PW-evoked responses, receptive fields of L4 barrel neurons are less spatially focused in cardiac arrest survivors than in control rats. In addition, spiking activity among L4 barrel neurons is more correlated in cardiac arrest survivors than in controls. Computational modeling demonstrates that experimentally observed disruptions in barrel circuit function after cardiac arrest can emerge from a balanced increase in background excitatory and inhibitory conductances in L4 neurons. Experimental and modeling data together suggest that after a hypoxic-ischemic insult, cortical sensory circuits are less responsive and less spatially tuned. Modulation of these deficits may represent a therapeutic approach to improving neurologic outcome after cardiac arrest.</jats:p

The relationship between consumer debt and mental health

Consumer debt is a growing phenomenon in the US and throughout the world. The beginning of the 21st century has been defined by such an incredible growth in consumer debt that American families have increased their debt relative to personal income four times faster than in the 1990s. Since the Federal Reserve began measuring the amount of American consumer debt and consumer income in the 1980s, consumer debt never exceeded consumer income until 2004 when it reached 104.8% of income. In the last two decades, researchers have observed a significant correlation between debt and mental health. The purpose of this thesis is to examine a comprehensive sample of previous quantitative research conducted on the relationship between debt and mental health. This thesis discusses the research in the following categories: 1) increased debt as a contributor to decreased mental health; 2) decreased mental health as a contributor to increased debt; 3) high correlation between debt and mental health risks

Effect of Adenomatous Polyposis Coli Loss on Tumorigenic Potential in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma

Loss of the Adenomatous Polyposis Coli (APC) tumor suppressor in colorectal cancer elicits rapid signaling through the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. In contrast to this well-established role of APC, recent studies from our laboratory demonstrated that APC functions through Wnt-independent pathways to mediate in vitro and in vivo models of breast tumorigenesis. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has an overall median survival of less than one year with a 5-year survival rate of 7.2%. APC is lost in a subset of pancreatic cancers, but the impact on Wnt signaling or tumor development is unclear. Given the lack of effective treatment strategies for pancreatic cancer, it is important to understand the functional implications of APC loss in pancreatic cancer cell lines. Therefore, the goal of this project is to study how APC loss affects Wnt pathway activation and in vitro tumor phenotypes. Using lentiviral shRNA, we successfully knocked down APC expression in six pancreatic cancer cell lines (AsPC-1, BxPC3, L3.6pl, HPAF-II, Hs 766T, MIA PaCa-2). No changes were observed in localization of β-catenin or reporter assays to assess β-catenin/TCF interaction. Despite this lack of Wnt/β-catenin pathway activation, the majority of APC knockdown cell lines exhibit an increase in cell proliferation. Cell migration assays showed that the BxPC-3 and L3.6pl cells were impacted by APC knockdown, showing faster wound healing in scratch wound assays. Interestingly, APC knockdown had no effect on gemcitabine treatment, which is the standard care for pancreatic cancer. It is important to understand the functional implications of APC loss in pancreatic cancer cells lines, which could be used as a target for therapeutics

First Grade Literacy Portfolios: A Road Map to Success

The purpose of this project was to design an assessment portfolio process for first grade students. Through the portfolio process children will set goals, self-evaluate, self-reflect, review their peers, and hold a student-led conference. Current research and best practices on portfolios, goal-setting, self-evaluation, self-reflection, peer review, and student-led conferences were reviewed. Literacy portfolios were defined. Portfolios and how they were introduced into education were discussed. Purposes and benefits as well as concerns and challenges of using portfolios in the classroom were discussed and compared. Mini-lessons and black-line masters were also included for each content area

So deft a builder : an account of the life and work of Sir Henry Hadow.

From the 1890's until his death in 1937 Sir Henry Hadow exercised a considerable influence on English musical and educational policy. His qualities of scholarship and artistic perception combined with a gift of administrative skill in a life which fulfilled itself in three main sequences. The early chapters of this study offer some account of Hadow's education at Malvern and oxford against the background of his home and family life. His training as a classical scholar was realized, and a summer spent in Germany enriched his interest in musical composition. With the publication of Studies in Modern Music in 1892 and 1895, and his subsequent editorship of the Oxford History of Music, he established a distinguished reputation as a music critic. A new phase in Hadow's life began with his appointment as Principal of Armstrong College - later the University of Newcastle - which was primarily a scientific and technological institution. He was appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University of Durham and a member of five national committees. In January 1919, Hadow was knighted, and in this same year he undertook work as a pioneer in the Army Education scheme. The later chapters, which incorporate Hadowts term of office as Chairman of the Consultative Committee to the Board of Education, also embrace his service to Sheffield as Vice-Chancellor of the University. It was during this final phase that the many "Hadow Reports", including the six reports of the Consultative Committee and the report for the B. B. C., "New Ventures in Broadcasting" (1928) were published. Hadow continued, as at Oxford and Newcastle, to address a variety of audiences on a variety of subjects; and the lectures and writings of this period are as felicitous in style and expression as they are rich in scholarship

Phylogeny of the Celastreae (Celastraceae) inferred using chloroplast and nuclear loci

The phylogenetic inference presented of the Celastreae (Celastraceae) is based on four loci: matK and trnL-F from the chloroplast genome and ITS and 26S rDNA from the nuclear genome. The species sampled are combined with taxa sampled from previous studies to better test the monophyly of the genera along with the intergeneric relationships within this tribe. The main purpose is to give an overview of the laboratory procedures used and the results from the sampling. The procedures include DNA isolation, DNA amplification, DNA purification, construction of contiguous sequences, sequence alignment, and lastly phylogenetic inference.High Honors