Distributional Analyses of Revenue Options for Alaska

A new report commissioned by Rasmuson Foundation as part of its Plan4Alaska campaign finds that while strategies currently proposed to close Alaska's $4 billion budget gap would significantly improve the state's fiscal standing, a diversified revenue strategy is needed this year to close the gap and equitably distribute financial impact. Rasmuson Foundation commissioned the report in response to comments from lawmakers about the dearth of economic data available to gauge the impact of various revenue scenarios. "Distributional Analyses of Revenue Options for Alaska" was produced by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), a nonprofit, non-partisan research organization with a mission to ensure that elected officials, the media, and the general public have access to accurate, timely, and straightforward information that allows them to understand the effects of current and proposed tax policies. ITEP used Gov. Bill Walker's Sustainable Alaska Plan in its analysis, and evaluated its proposed reductions to the Permanent Fund dividend, and income, alcohol, tobacco, and motor fuel tax increases to determine effects on Alaskans at different income levels. ITEP found that a fiscal plan that relied heavily on Permanent Fund earnings without income tax and other forms of taxation would disproportionately impact middle-income working families and low-income Alaskans. The report also examines a variety of options to derive more revenue from the income tax and less from reductions to the dividend. Among the alternative income tax structures examined are a doubling of the governor's proposed tax, the implementation of a more progressive income tax proposed by Rep. Paul Seaton in 2015, and the enactment of a 6.4 percent flat tax on incomes over$100,000 (or over $200,000 for married couples)

Integration-Regulation and Lethal Violence: A Sociological Examination of the Rural-Urban Suicide Differential in the U.S. Gulf South 1970-2000

Within the sociological literature rates of lethal violence have theoretically andempirically been associated with urban location. In many advanced industrial countries rising rates of rural suicide have resulted in an unprecedented reversal of the rural-urban suicide differential. This study contributes to the existing literature by examining the implications of rural-urban location within contemporary Durkheimian macro social suicide research. Combining county level mortality, demographic, economic, and religious data thisstudy empirically: a) details longitudinal patterns of rural and urban county age-adjusted suicide rates for the Southern Gulf States from 1970-2000; b) standardizes and regresses crude white male suicide rates for rural and urban counties(separately) against a set ofpredictor variables commonly applied within macro-social suicide research. Findings from this study indicate several unique and significant patterns of association in rural and urban counties, suggesting the need to reconsider the theoretical and empirical implications of rural-urban space within contemporary macro-social suicide research

Integration-Regulation and rural suicide: a test of three alternative models

This dissertation is an examination of the social structural determinants of rural suicide rates. Examining rates of white male suicide in rural and urban counties of the U.S. Gulf States Region, this research adds to the existing literature by examining the theoretical and empirical implications of rural-urban location within sociology\u27s Integration-Regulation Hypothesis of Suicide. Drawing upon suicide research from sociology, criminology and social psychology this study tests the differential explanatory power of three alternative theoretical and empirical predictor models of rural and urban suicide rates. Overall findings from this study underscore the need to examine suicide rates as distinct outcomes of location-specific social processes. Longitudinal trends (1968-2001) in county suicide rates demonstrate a relatively recent change in the direction of the rural-urban suicide differential within the study region. Starting in the mid 1990\u27s this study shows total, male, and white-male suicide rates are disproportionately higher for rural compared to urban counties. Descriptive analyses further indicates a high level of significant variation in predictor variables across rural and urban counties. Regression analyses show a mixed pattern of significant associations between predictor variables for both rural and urban counties, but do not indicate clear support for a single theoretical explanation of elevated rural suicide rates. Specifically this study finds rural county white male suicide rates are primarily explained by the older age structure of rural counties. Economic dependency on farming and mining were associated with higher rural suicide rates. Findings also indicate a significant reduction in rural suicide rates associated with elevated and rising levels of household income inequality

Doppler lidar observations of sensible heat flux and intercomparisons with a ground-based energy balance station and WRF model output

This is an open access article - Copyright @ 2009 E. Schweizerbart'sche VerlagsbuchhandlungDuring the Convective and Orographically induced Precipitation Study (COPS), a scanning Doppler lidar was deployed at Achern, Baden-Wüttemberg, Germany from 13th June to 16th August 2007. Vertical velocity profiles ('rays') through the boundary layer were measured every 3 seconds with vertical profiles of horizontal wind velocity being derived from performing azimuth scans every 30 minutes. During Intense Observation Periods radiosondes were launched from the site. In this paper, a case study of convective boundary layer development on 15th July 2007 is investigated. Estimates of eddy dissipation rate are made from the vertically pointing lidar data and used as one input to the velocity-temperature co-variance equation to estimate sensible heat flux. The sensible heat flux values calculated from Doppler lidar data are compared with a surface based energy balance station and output from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model.Funding is obtained from NER

Comparison of data on Mutation Frequencies of Mice Caused by Radiation - Low Dose Model -

We propose LD(Low Dose) model, the extension of LDM model which was proposed in the previous paper [Y. Manabe et al.: J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 81 (2012) 104004] to estimate biological damage caused by irradiation. LD model takes account of all the considerable effects including cell death effect as well as proliferation, apoptosis, repair. As a typical example of estimation, we apply LD model to the experiment of mutation frequency on the responses induced by the exposure to low levels of ionizing radiation. The most famous and extensive experiments are those summarized by Russell and Kelly [Russell, W. L. & Kelly, E. M: Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 79 (1982) 539-541], which are known as 'Mega-mouse project'. This provides us with important information of the frequencies of transmitted specific-locus mutations induced in mouse spermatogonia stem-cells. It is found that the numerical results of the mutation frequency of mice are in reasonable agreement with the experimental data: the LD model reproduces the total dose and dose rate dependence of data reasonably. In order to see such dose-rate dependence more explicitly, we introduce the dose-rate effectiveness factor (DREF). This represents a sort of preventable effects such as repair, apoptosis and death of broken cells, which are to be competitive with proliferation effect of broken cells induced by irradiation.Comment: subimitting to J. Phys. Soc. Jpn, 32 pages, 8 figure

Global Strings and the Aharonov-Bohm Effect

When a fermion interacts with a global vortex or cosmic string a solenoidal "gauge" field is induced. This results in a non-trivial scattering cross-section. For scalars and non-relativistic fermions the cross-section is similar to that of Aharonov and Bohm, but with corrections. A cosmological example is compared to one in liquid He$^{3}$-A and important differences are discovered.Comment: 11 pages, DAMTP 93-5

Government Entrepreneurship: How COP, Direct Supervision, and a Business Plan Helped to Solve Santa Ana\u27s Crime Problems

Much has been written about Community Oriented Policing for police agencies and about the Direct Supervision concept for jail operations. Each strategy is at the cutting edge of its respective discipline. This Commentary describes how the progressive City of Santa Ana implemented both strategies— along with a visionary business plan to operate its jail at minimal cost—to combat crime successfully. The City’s business plan relies on entrepreneurship that is too often lacking in government programs. This approach has led to a number of innovations in law enforcement, corrections, and government service. Pay-to-Stay programs provide yet another example of how Santa Ana’s willingness to innovate helped it build ever more effective and efficient correctional facilities

Integrating Clinical Pastoral Education into a Master's Degree Program at Virginia Commonwealth University

A description of the context, the integration of CPE into a Masto of Science Program, the integrated curriculum and the advantages and challenges of this unique program

How Well is Urban Agriculture Growing in the Southern United States? Trends and Issues from the Perspective of Urban Planners Regulating Urban Agriculture

In this study, we evaluate urban agriculture trends in 55 cities in the Southern United States. Our research is important for three reasons. First, as the geographic scope of urban agriculture research is limited mostly to Northeast and West Coast cities, we focus on the South, the fastest-growing U.S. Census region. Second, despite rapid growth, this region has also experienced the highest rate of poverty and food insecurity. Third, we surveyed urban planners who regulate and monitor urban agriculture sites, develop urban agriculture policies and programs, and advise local decision-makers. The study documents Southern urban agriculture changes between 2000 and 2010. It also considers types of projects, implementation barriers, and strategies used to promote urban agriculture. A survey questionnaire was mailed to planning offi­cials in 153 Southern cities; 55 cities responded. Among respondents, 87% reported the existence of urban agriculture in their jurisdiction. Most Southern cities reporting urban agriculture experi­enced urban agriculture growth (69%), 21% reported decline, and 10% did not report a change. The most common projects included neighbor­hood gardens, school gardens, and community supported and entrepreneurial agriculture. Irrespec­tive of urban agriculture growth or decline, the responding cities relied on the same types of regul­atory and policy approaches. Only cities reporting growth in urban agriculture implemented programs to promote urban agricul­ture, including land acqui­sition, trusts, and inter­jurisdictional coordination. Land conversion and lack of economic sustaina­bility were cited as main barriers to urban agricul­ture. The findings suggest the need to further explore the impact of external factors on the effec­tiveness of urban agriculture regulations, policies and programs, and solutions to urban agriculture barriers