What Do Americans Think About Federal Tax Options to Support Public Transit, Highways, and Local Streets and Roads? Results from Year 3 of a National Survey, MTI Report 12-01

This report summarizes the results of a national random-digit-dial public opinion poll that asked 1,519 respondents if they would support various tax options for raising federal transportation revenues, with a special focus on understanding support for increasing revenues for public transit. Eleven specific tax options tested were variations on raising the federal gas tax rate and creating a new mileage tax, and creating a new federal sales tax. Other questions probed various perceptions related to public transit, including knowledge and opinions about federal taxes to support transit. In addition, the survey collected data on standard socio-demographic factors, travel behavior (public transit usage, annual miles driven, and vehicle fuel efficiency), and attitudinal data about how respondents viewed the quality of their local transportation system and their priorities for government spending on transportation in their state. All of this information was used to assess support levels for the tax options among different population subgroups. The survey results show that a majority of Americans would support higher taxes for transportation—under certain conditions. For example, a gas tax increase of 10¢ per gallon to improve road maintenance was supported by 58 percent of respondents, whereas support levels dropped to just 20 percent if the revenues were to be used more generally to maintain and improve the transportation system. For tax options where the revenues were to be spent for undefined transportation purposes, support levels varied considerably by what kind of tax would be imposed, with a sales tax much more popular than either a gas tax increase or a new mileage tax. With respect to public transit, the survey results from all three years show that most people want good public transit service in their state. However, the 2012 questions exploring different methods to raise new revenues found relatively low levels of support for all of them. Also, large minorities of respondents did not know that all levels of government— local, state, and federal—support transit. The federal government was the least widely recognized source of support

Characteristics of Keratoconus Patients at a Tertiary Eye Center in India

Purpose: To evaluate the presentation and characteristics of patients with keratoconus at a tertiary eye care center in Mumbai, India. Methods: This single center, non-comparative, retrospective cohort analysis was performed on patients with keratoconus who presented to the Clear Vision Eye Center clinic from April 2007 to March 2009. Data was collected to characterize correlations among visual acuity, corneal biomicroscopic findings, and refractive and topographic findings in keratoconus. Results: Records of 274 patients including 189 male and 85 female subjects with mean age of 20.1±3.5 (range, 13 to 29) years at the time of diagnosis were assessed. There was history of skin allergy in 73 (26.6%), symptomatic ocular allergy in 67 (24.45%) and asthma in 31 (11.31%) patients. The most frequent corneal sign was Fleischer′s ring which was observed in 81% of cases. Corneal topography revealed mean simK (simulated keratometry) of 53.3±6.1 (range, 41.2 to 69.0) diopters. Corneal topography analysis with the Cone Location Magnitude Index disclosed the presence of inferior cones in 93% of patients. Conclusion: This group of patients had younger age at presentation and more severe keratoconus as compared to western populations; contact lenses were used only in a minority of patients

Enablers for Competitiveness of Indian Manufacturing Sector: An ISM-Fuzzy MICMAC Analysis

AbstractNow a days global competitive scenario plays a critical role in success of Indian manufacturing sector. The present study argues that innovation can play a very important role in providing this competitiveness of Indian manufacturing sector. The study identifies 11 enablers for promotion of innovation in the Indian manufacturing sector. Based on the rigorous literature review 11 major innovation enablers (IEs) are obtained. The Delphi technique is applied as a potentially valuable tool for the grouping these enablers. The study, analyse the impact of innovation enablers (IEs) to enhance the manufacturing competitiveness and categories into three phases firstly, identification of innovation enablers, secondly, qualitative analysis of enablers and final quantitative analysis of the innovation enablers. The research theme has been categories into three segments, i.e. identifying the enablers from the literature, conduct interviews with directors of different departments and analysis of the manufacturing industries. The study involves 100 manufacturing companies across India and the data is gathered using a 5-point Likert scale. Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) has been used to analyse the relationships among these enablers as well as fuzzy MICMAC (Matriced’ Impacts Croise's Multiplication Appliquée a UN Classement) analysis used to find out driving and the dependence power of enablers. To identify the driving and the dependence power of various IEs the final outcomes of ISM are used as input to the fuzzy MICMAC analysis. This analysis serves to identify which (IEs) is performing as the most leading one to raise the competitiveness of manufacturing industries. This study plays a vital role to enhance the competitiveness of manufacturing industries in India

What do Americans Think About Federal Tax Options to Support Public Transit, Highways, and Local Streets and Roads? Results from Year 3 of a National Survey

This report summarizes the results of a national random-digit-dial public opinion poll that asked 1,519 respondents if they would support various tax options for raising federal transportation revenues, with a special focus on understanding support for increasing revenues for public transit. Eleven specific tax options tested were variations on raising the federal gas tax rate and creating a new mileage tax, and creating a new federal sales tax. Other questions probed various perceptions related to public transit, including knowledge and opinions about federal taxes to support transit. In addition, the survey collected data on standard socio-demographic factors, travel behavior (public transit usage, annual miles driven, and vehicle fuel efficiency), and attitudinal data about how respondents viewed the quality of their local transportation system and their priorities for government spending on transportation in their state. All of this information was used to assess support levels for the tax options among different population subgroups. The survey results show that a majority of Americans would support higher taxes for transportation—under certain conditions. For example, a gas tax increase of 10¢ per gallon to improve road maintenance was supported by 58 percent of respondents, whereas support levels dropped to just 20 percent if the revenues were to be used more generally to maintain and improve the transportation system. For tax options where the revenues were to be spent for undefined transportation purposes, support levels varied considerably by what kind of tax would be imposed, with a sales tax much more popular than either a gas tax increase or a new mileage tax. With respect to public transit, the survey results from all three years show that most people want good public transit service in their state. However, the 2012 questions exploring different methods to raise new revenues found relatively low levels of support for all of them. Also, large minorities of respondents did not know that all levels of government— local, state, and federal—support transit. The federal government was the least widely recognized source of support

Effect of setback on fundamantal period of RC framed buildings

Setback buildings with geometric irregularity (both in elevation and plan) are now increasingly encountered in modern urban construction. Setback buildings are characterised by staggered abrupt reductions in floor area along the height of the building, with consequent drops in mass, strength and stiffness. Height-wise changes in stiffness and mass render the dynamic characteristics of these buildings different from the ‘regular’ building. This paper presents the design code perspective of this building category. Almost all the major international design codes recommend dynamic analysis for design of setback buildings with scaled up base shear corresponding to the fundamental period as per the code specified empirical formula. However, the empirical equations of fundamental period given in these codes are a function of building height, which is ambiguous for a setback building. It has been seen from the analysis that the fundamental period of a setback building changes when the configuration of the building changes, even if the overall height remains the same. Based on modal analysis of 90 setback buildings with varying irregularity and height, this study proposes a correction factor to the empirical code formula for fundamental period, to render it applicable for stepped building

Solvent extraction in copper metallurgy recovery of acid and metals from copper bleed stream

Solvent extraction in copper metallurgy has been the first major application for producing nonferrous metals beyond the production of rare earths/nuclear metals. With the advent of solvent extrac-tion (SX), several lean grade, complex, rnultimetal and pocket deposits including byproducts could be processed to produce copper economically. Though, the SX technology is proven internationally, it has yet to find an industrial application in the Indian context. This paper outlines the possibility of using solvent extraction in copper metallurgy particularly in the Indian scenario. Specific example of the processing of copper bleed stream has also been mentioned. Some of the details and the flowsheet coven here shows how the sulphuric acid can be recov-ered from the copper bleed stream for recycling in the system. Besides, the recovery of copper and nickel in convenient form like metal sulphates and electrolytic grade metal cathodes can be taken u

Processing of spent tanning and chrome plating solutions for chromium recovery

Use of chromium in metal plating and leather tanning industries generates a lot of effluent containing Cr(III) and Cr(VI). Besides severe water pollution, substantial amount of chromium is lost due to the prevalent practice of removal-disposal technique followed world over. Processes based on recovery and reuse methodology are currently projected as ex¬cellent means of meeting the environmental regulations while producing chromium salts/solutions for recycling. This paper details the composi¬tion, conditions and quantity of spent liquors/effluents generated in elec¬troplating and leather tanning industries and their treatment by removal¬disposal as well as recovery-reuse methods. The approach based on pre¬cipitation, ion exchange and liquid-liquid extraction particularly for chro¬mium recovery is highlighted. The results of solvent extraction with D2EHPA and CYANEX 272 for chromium recovery from spent tanning baths are also summarised

Producing Copper Powder from Copper Bleed Solution by Hydrogen Reduction

This paper deals with the bench scale investigation on the hydrogen reduction of a highly acidic copper bleed solution.(CBS), generated in an Indian copper smelter, to produce highly pure copper powder. A titanium-lined autoclave of 1 L capacity was used for this study. After the optimization of the parameters for the recovery of copper powder, hydrogen reduction of copper was done in a larger autoclave to validate the results

Use of D2ehpa as an Extractant for the Recovery Of Cu, Ni, Co & Zn From Ammoniacal Leach Liquor of Sea Nodules

Extraction studies for copper, nickel , cobalti and zinc from ammoniacal- ammonium carbonate solution of Indian ocean nodules were undertaken using Di -2-ethyl-hexyl-phosphoric acid(D2EHPA). The leach solution was processed for the metal extraction-separation applying the coextraction concept . Besides studying the effect of ammonia concentration , and O/A ratio in different contacts, kinetics of extraction and simulation of continuous extraction were investigated. The simulation experiments carried out on bench scale resulted in the extraction of over 90% cobalt and zinc , and 80- 82% copper and nickel from the ocean nodules in a continuous operation with the leach liquor using 0.75M D2EHPA with 20% isodecanol in kerosene

Value addition in the processing of copper bleed solution by solvent extraction process

Copper bleed solution generated during the electrorefining of anode copper has been used for the recovery of metals as value added products viz. metal powders following partial decopperisation, solvent extraction and electrowinning. In this process, a mixed crystal containing copper and nickel sulphates is produced from the partially decopperised bleed solution by crystallization. The mixed crystal is dissolved and iron is removed by precipitation. The copper is extracted from the purified solution using LIX84 diluted in kerosene leaving nickel in the aqueous raffinate. Bench scale simulation study for the separation of copper and nickel is further confirmed by extracting copper in a mixer settler unit. The purified solution has been used for producing copper and nickel powders by electrolysis