Tax Evasion in Kenya and Tanzania:Evidence from Missing Imports

In this paper we estimate the amount of tax evasion in customs authorities in both Kenya and Tanzania by calculating measurement errors in reported trade flows between the two countries and correlate those errors with tax rates. We find that the measurement error is correlated with the tax rates in both Kenya and Tanzania. According to the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index, Kenya is more corrupt than Tanzania, but we find that the coefficient on tax is higher in Tanzania compared to Kenya implying that tax evasion on imported goods is higher in Tanzania compared to the Kenya. We also introduced a third country into our analysis, the United Kingdom, and tax evasion seems to be more severe in trade flows between Kenya and Tanzania compared to trade flows between the United Kingdom and Kenya/Tanzania. Finally we also find that the tax evasion coefficient is lower in the Kenya-United Kingdom case compared to the Tanzanian-United Kingdom case which supports our previous finding that tax evasion is more severe in the Tanzanian customs authority.Tax evasion; corruption; trade; Kenya; Tanzania

A note on the Sumerian expression SI-ge4-de3/dam

The expression SI-ge4-dam/de3 appears in some of the loan documents of the Ur III period where it was used to establish the interest rate or the loan fee. In addition, it is sometimes preceded by ki-ba 'in its/this place/ground' or, in some cases, ma2 -a 'in the boat'. The regular verb SI.g was closely related, perhaps even synonymous with, the reduplication verb ḡar/ḡa2-ḡa2 'to put' or 'to place'. While it may be concluded that SI-ge4-dam/de3 had nothing to do with the verb si 'to fill' or gi4 'to return', the correct analysis of the expression remains somewhat uncertain. The article proposes that the SI should be read se and understood as a phonetic writing for the regular verb se3.g 'to put', 'to place'. The combination of the verb with the ki-ba may suggest that a more parochial form of keeping products existed side by side with the large centralized granaries and storehouses of the city.La expresión SI-ge4-dam/de3 aparece en algunos contratos de préstamo del período de Ur III, donde se empleaba para determinar el interés de dicho préstamo. Por otra parte, este término se hallaba a veces precedido de ki-ba 'en su/este lugar/suelo', y en algunos casos por ma2 -a 'en la barca'. El verbo regular SI.g está muy relacionado (quizás es incluso sinónimo) con el verbo de la clase de la reduplicación ḡar/ḡa2-ḡa2 'poner' o 'colocar'. Mientras que puede concluirse que SI-ge4-dam/de3 no tiene nada que ver con el verbo si 'llenar', ni con gi4 'regresar, devolver', el análisis correcto de la expresión sigue siendo, de algún modo, incierto. En el artículo se propone que SI puede leerse como se , entendiéndolo como una escritura fonética del verbo regular se3.g 'poner', 'colocar'. La combinación del verbo con ki-ba podría indicar que, junto a los grandes graneros y almacenes centrales de la ciudad, había un modo distinto y más modesto de conservar los productos

Death of a salesman by Arthur Miller

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Boston Universit

Performance of distributed information systems

There is an increasing use of distributed computer systems to provide services in both traditional telephony as well as in the Internet. Two main technologies are Distributed Object Computing (DOC) and Web based services. One common DOC architecture investigated in this thesis is the Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA), specified by the Object Management Group. CORBA applications consist of interacting software components called objects. Two other DOC architectures investigated are the Telecommunications Information Net- working Architecture (TINA) and a CORBA based Intelligent Network (IN/CORBA) system. In a DOC environment, the objects of an application are distributed on mul- tiple nodes. A middleware layer makes the distribution transparent to the application. However, the distributed nature creates a number of potential performance problems. Three problems in DOC systems are examined in this thesis: object distribution, load balancing and overload protection. An object distribution describes how objects are distributed in the network. The objective is to distribute the objects on the physical nodes in such a way that intern-node communication overhead is as small as possible. One way to solve the object distribution problem is to use linear programming. The constraints for the problem are then given by both ease of management of the system and performance concerns. Load balancing is used when there are multiple objects that can be used at a particular time. The objective of load balancing is to distribute the load e±ciently on the available nodes. This thesis investigates a number of de- centralized load balancing mechanisms, including one based on the use of intelligent agents. Finally, overload protection mechanisms for DOC systems are investigated. While overload protection is well-researched for telecom networks, only little work has been performed previously concerning DOC and overload protection. Also, this thesis examines the use of overload protection in e-commerce web servers. Two schemes are compared, one which handles admission to the e-commerce site on request basis, and another which handles admission on session basis. The session based mechanism is shown to be better in terms of user-experienced performance

Count on dead wood

Dead wood is acknowledged world-wide for its interconnection to biodiversity and sustainable forest management. In Sweden, today’s retention forestry requires measures to protect and create dead wood, which raise the need of inventory methods for estimating dead wood quantity and quality. There are however few evidence-based dead wood conservation value assessment methods, why this study aims at investigating the cost-efficiency and performance of two unconventional conservation assessment methods. The study was conducted in spruce dominated stands in Gävleborg county, which either had been clear-cut or set aside as retention. The Relascope method used a relascope to conduct dead wood measurements. The Triangle-transect method measured dead wood along three transects, established to form a triangle shape. A total inventory on sample plot level, the Sample plot method, was used for evaluation. Both methods were good proxies for dead wood volume on a plot level, though their performance for estimating volume and dead wood diversity varied dependent on forest types on stand level. Both methods were significantly faster than the Sample plot method. The results show a potential cost reduction in forest management, though further studies are needed to improve quantitative and qualitative measures of both methods before applying them in active forest management

Washington\u27s Retreat from Civil Rights Enforcement—Meyer v. University of Washington, 105 Wn. 2d 847, 719 P.2d 98 (1986)

Congress passed the Civil Rights Attorneys\u27 Fees Awards Act of 1976 (the Fees Act) to provide fees sufficient to attract competent counsel for civil rights plaintiffs, and thereby to promote private enforcement of civil rights laws. Ten years later, in Meyer v. University of Washington, the Washington Supreme Court transformed the Fees Act into a shield for civil rights violators which will deter bona fide civil rights claims. This Note reviews the history of the Fees Act, critiques the Meyer court\u27s analysis of the Act, and proposes alternate methods of evaluating claims of prevailing defendants. The Meyer court misinterpreted the Fees Act. Not only did the court use an inappropriate standard to evaluate an attorney fees claim, but also misapplied that standard

Overload Protection for CORBA Systems with Time Constraints

Scalable and reliable distributed object-oriented computing (DOC) middleware systems is an important technology in, for example, telecommunications service logic and distributed web servers. The Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA), developed by the Object Management Group (OMG) is a speci cation of a common platform for DOC systems. CORBA acts as middleware, by inserting itself between the Operating System (OS) layer and the Application layer on a host. CORBA provides support for transparent interaction of objects situated on different nodes. The original CORBA specications had no support for timing constraints in applications and very little support in the terms of performance optimizations. Present extension to CORBA include support for real-time applications and a number of performance enhancements such as load balancing. However, no work so far address the issue of overload in a CORBA system. This paper presents a discussion of overload issues in distributed CORBA systems with time-constrained tasks. First a performance model of a CORBA system is introduced. Second, overload in distributed CORBA systems is discussed. Third, a number of classic overload protection mechanisms are applied to the performance model and investigated using simulation. The simulations show that even by using very simple protection mechanism, a good throughput can be achieved

Inside-out plant plasma membrane vesicles of high purity obtained by aqueous two-phase partitioning

AbstractHighly purified plasma membranes obtained from leaves of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) by aqueous two-phase partitioning were separated into two fractions by further phase partition steps. The vesicles partitioning to the interface showed an ATP-dependent H+-uptake (measured using the pH probe acridine orange) and a negligible K+,Mg2+-ATPase latency, while the vesicles partitioning in the upper phase showed only slow H+-uptake and a high ATPase latency on addition of Triton X-100. Based on these results the material at the interface is estimated to contain ∼90% sealed, inside-out vesicles, and the material in the upper phase ∼90% sealed, right-side-out vesicle