Agenda Control in the Bundestag, 1980-2002

We find strong evidence of monopoly legislative agenda control by government parties in the Bundestag. First, the government parties have near-zero roll rates, while the opposition parties are often rolled over half the time. Second, only opposition parties’ (and not government parties’) roll rates increase with the distances of each party from the floor median. Third, almost all policy moves are towards the government coalition (the only exceptions occur during periods of divided government). Fourth, roll rates for government parties sky- rocket when they fall into the opposition and roll rates for opposition parties plummet when they enter government, while policy movements go from being nearly 100 per cent rightward when there is a rightist government to 100 per cent leftward under a leftist government

Income taxes as reciprocal tariffs

Tariff ; Taxation

Income taxes as reciprocal tariffs

This article shows the equivalence between tariffs on international trade and income taxation. Traditionally, income taxes have been seen as lowering society's output through the household's labor-leisure trade-off. Income taxes also reduce the degree to which individuals specialize in market activity, which is similar to the way countries respond to tariffs in international trade. Income taxes discourage individuals from specializing in activities that reflect their comparative advantage. In so doing, income taxes may have their most distorting effects, not by encouraging individuals to work less but by causing them to spend more time working at endeavors for which their talent is limited. Using a general model of interpersonal exchange, the authors demonstrate parallels between income taxes and tariffs. Over a range of income taxes, raising taxes can benefit large groups of similarly skilled individuals and hurt small groups. As in tariff theory, the costs of income taxes are small only if they succeed in raising revenue. Thus, it is very costly for an economy to be on the downward portion of its tax revenue (Laffer) curve. The more heterogeneous the society, the higher the income tax rate that will maximize tax revenues. By overlooking the effects of heterogeneity in the workforce and the potential for workers to flee to home production, policymakers may under- or overestimate the effects of income taxes on various sectors of the economy and tax with unintended consequences.Income tax ; Tariff ; Taxation

3D MHD Modeling of the Gaseous Structure of the Galaxy: Synthetic Observations

We generated synthetic observations from the four-arm model presented in Gomez & Cox (2004) for the Galactic ISM in the presence of a spiral gravitational perturbation. We found that velocity crowding and diffusion have a strong effect in the l-v diagram. The v-b diagram presents structures at the expected spiral arm velocities, that can be explained by the off-the-plane structure of the arms presented in previous papers of this series. Such structures are observed in the Leiden/Dwingeloo HI survey. The rotation curve, as measured from the inside of the modeled galaxy, shows similarities with the observed one for the Milky Way Galaxy, although it has large deviations from the smooth circular rotation corresponding to the background potential. The magnetic field inferred from a synthetic synchrotron map shows a largely circular structure, but with interesting deviations in the midplane due to distortion of the field from circularity in the interarm regions.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. Better quality figures in http://www.astro.umd.edu/~gomez/publica/3d_galaxy-3.pd

A study of lunar resources - A preliminary report of surface and some other mining systems Summary report, 22 May 1965 - 1 May 1966

Use of extraterrestrial resources in lunar and planetary exploratio

Cohomology of toric line bundles via simplicial Alexander duality

We give a rigorous mathematical proof for the validity of the toric sheaf cohomology algorithm conjectured in the recent paper by R. Blumenhagen, B. Jurke, T. Rahn, and H. Roschy (arXiv:1003.5217). We actually prove not only the original algorithm but also a speed-up version of it. Our proof is independent from (in fact appeared earlier on the arXiv than) the proof by H. Roschy and T. Rahn (arXiv:1006.2392), and has several advantages such as being shorter and cleaner and can also settle the additional conjecture on "Serre duality for Betti numbers" which was raised but unresolved in arXiv:1006.2392.Comment: 9 pages. Theorem 1.1 and Corollary 1.2 improved; Abstract and Introduction modified; References updated. To appear in Journal of Mathematical Physic

Simulation of stellar instabilities with vastly different timescales using domain decomposition

Strange mode instabilities in the envelopes of massive stars lead to shock waves, which can oscillate on a much shorter timescale than that associated with the primary instability. The phenomenon is studied by direct numerical simulation using a, with respect to time, implicit Lagrangian scheme, which allows for the variation by several orders of magnitude of the dependent variables. The timestep for the simulation of the system is reduced appreciably by the shock oscillations and prevents its long term study. A procedure based on domain decomposition is proposed to surmount the difficulty of vastly different timescales in various regions of the stellar envelope and thus to enable the desired long term simulations. Criteria for domain decomposition are derived and the proper treatment of the resulting inner boundaries is discussed. Tests of the approach are presented and its viability is demonstrated by application to a model for the star P Cygni. In this investigation primarily the feasibility of domain decomposition for the problem considered is studied. We intend to use the results as the basis of an extension to two dimensional simulations.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures, published in MNRA

Adaptation Reduces Variability of the Neuronal Population Code

Sequences of events in noise-driven excitable systems with slow variables often show serial correlations among their intervals of events. Here, we employ a master equation for general non-renewal processes to calculate the interval and count statistics of superimposed processes governed by a slow adaptation variable. For an ensemble of spike-frequency adapting neurons this results in the regularization of the population activity and an enhanced post-synaptic signal decoding. We confirm our theoretical results in a population of cortical neurons.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Long term (5 Year) safety of bronchial thermoplasty: Asthma Intervention Research (AIR) trial

<b>Background:</b> Bronchial thermoplasty (BT) is a bronchoscopic procedure that improves asthma control by reducing excess airway smooth muscle. Treated patients have been followed out to 5 years to evaluate long-term safety of this procedure. <br></br> <br></br> <b>Methods:</b> Patients enrolled in the Asthma Intervention Research Trial were on inhaled corticosteroids ≥200 μg beclomethasone or equivalent + long-acting-beta2-agonists and demonstrated worsening of asthma on long-acting-β2-agonist withdrawal. Following initial evaluation at 1 year, subjects were invited to participate in a 4 year safety study. Adverse events (AEs) and spirometry data were used to assess long-term safety out to 5 years post-BT. <br></br> <br></br> <b>Results:</b> 45 of 52 treated and 24 of 49 control group subjects participated in long-term follow-up of 5 years and 3 years respectively. The rate of respiratory adverse events (AEs/subject) was stable in years 2 to 5 following BT (1.2, 1.3, 1.2, and 1.1, respectively,). There was no increase in hospitalizations or emergency room visits for respiratory symptoms in Years 2, 3, 4, and 5 compared to Year 1. The FVC and FEV1 values showed no deterioration over the 5 year period in the BT group. Similar results were obtained for the Control group. <br></br><br></br> <b>Conclusions:</b> The absence of clinical complications (based on AE reporting) and the maintenance of stable lung function (no deterioration of FVC and FEV1) over a 5-year period post-BT in this group of patients with moderate to severe asthma support the long-term safety of the procedure out to 5 years