Should Religious Organizations Worry about IRS Audits?

A great deal of media attention has focused on recent perceived financial abuses of churches and religious organizations. Cases of fraud within religious organizations have fueled the public perception that churches require some form of monitoring to prevent financial abuse. However, the IRS has limited authority to audit religious organizations under section 7611, and the results of such audits are generally unavailable to the public. Through a Freedom of Information Act request, we obtained the outcomes of all section 7611 IRS audits of religious organizations conducted between 2001 and 2010. We found that although the number of both churches and nonchurch-related organizations (NCROs) increased significantly during the period examined, the number of IRS audits did not rise. We also analyzed religious organizations’ chances of being selected for an IRS examination and the likely outcome of an examination. In most cases the audits ended with no change to the organization’s status, or a delinquent tax return was secured. This information is useful for churches that may face or are currently under IRS examination. Further, this information can help tax practitioners assess examination outcomes and advise clients

The Modified Weighted Slab Technique: Models and Results

In an attempt to understand the source and propagation of galactic cosmic rays we have employed the Modified Weighted Slab technique along with recent values of the relevant cross sections to compute primary to secondary ratios including B/C and Sub-Fe/Fe for different galactic propagation models. The models that we have considered are the disk-halo diffusion model, the dynamical halo wind model, the turbulent diffusion model and a model with minimal reacceleration. The modified weighted slab technique will be briefly discussed and a more detailed description of the models will be given. We will also discuss the impact that the various models have on the problem of anisotropy at high energy and discuss what properties of a particular model bear on this issue.Comment: LaTeX - AASTEX format, Submitted to ApJ, 8 figures, 20 page

The Neo-developmentalism Alternative: Capitalist crisis, popular movements, and economic development in Argentina since the 90s

After the economic meltdown of 2001 Argentina appeared to enter a new period of sustainable economic growth and relative political stability. After the crisis, changes in public policies were so far-reaching that several authors have argued that Argentina underwent a transition from neoliberal rule to an altogether new period of neo-developmentalism.1 This chapter argues that while neo-developmentalism represents a break with neoliberalism in some respects, the changes in macroeconomic policies also express profound continuities with past neoliberal policies. Furthermore, any changes must be understood as the result of shifts in the correlation of political forces in the broader regional and international context, rather than a conscious policy ‘choice’ per se. The chapter is structured as follows. The first section discusses the dynamics of neoliberal rule and its crisis in Argentina between 1991 and 2001. The second section presents the main structural continuities of the current process in relation to earlier periods of neoliberal orthodoxy. The third section analyses the new political foundations of neo-developmentalism, while the following section discusses changes in public policies showing how they manifest the particular articulation of continuity and change. We finish our discussion with a few preliminary conclusions.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

The Neo-developmentalism Alternative: Capitalist crisis, popular movements, and economic development in Argentina since the 90s

After the economic meltdown of 2001 Argentina appeared to enter a new period of sustainable economic growth and relative political stability. After the crisis, changes in public policies were so far-reaching that several authors have argued that Argentina underwent a transition from neoliberal rule to an altogether new period of neo-developmentalism.1 This chapter argues that while neo-developmentalism represents a break with neoliberalism in some respects, the changes in macroeconomic policies also express profound continuities with past neoliberal policies. Furthermore, any changes must be understood as the result of shifts in the correlation of political forces in the broader regional and international context, rather than a conscious policy ‘choice’ per se. The chapter is structured as follows. The first section discusses the dynamics of neoliberal rule and its crisis in Argentina between 1991 and 2001. The second section presents the main structural continuities of the current process in relation to earlier periods of neoliberal orthodoxy. The third section analyses the new political foundations of neo-developmentalism, while the following section discusses changes in public policies showing how they manifest the particular articulation of continuity and change. We finish our discussion with a few preliminary conclusions.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

Disorder induced Dirac-point physics in epitaxial graphene from temperature-dependent magneto-transport measurements

We report a study of disorder effects on epitaxial graphene in the vicinity of the Dirac point by magneto-transport. Hall effect measurements show that the carrier density increases quadratically with temperature, in good agreement with theoretical predictions which take into account intrinsic thermal excitation combined with electron-hole puddles induced by charged impurities. We deduce disorder strengths in the range 10.2 $\sim$ 31.2 meV, depending on the sample treatment. We investigate the scattering mechanisms and estimate the impurity density to be $3.0 \sim 9.1 \times 10^{10}$ cm$^{-2}$ for our samples. An asymmetry in the electron/hole scattering is observed and is consistent with theoretical calculations for graphene on SiC substrates. We also show that the minimum conductivity increases with increasing disorder potential, in good agreement with quantum-mechanical numerical calculations.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Building urban flood resilience with rainwater management

This is the final version.Urban stormwater is a significant hazard and a promising resource. Recent studies have highlighted that effective and smart rainwater management provides both flood and drought mitigation benefits through capturing extreme rainfall and contributing to water demands at the property scale [1], indicating opportunities to upscale benefits across urban areas. However, for stormwater management to reach this potential, planners must move away from ad-hoc and localised application towards integrated catchment-wide strategies, capable of delivering catchment-wide benefits. New planning methodologies are required to achieve this shift and key questions remain regarding how strategies could be applied to maximise flood resilience, supply augmentation and cost-effectiveness across urban scales. This study responds to these emerging challenges through assessing the potential benefits of catchment-scale rainwater management across the Pandon Dene surface water catchment in Newcastle-upon Tyne, NE England.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC