VOLUNTARY EFFORT AS A TAX SUBSTITUTE IN THE REVENUE-SHARING ALLOCATION FORMULA

Public Economics,

Analysis of cost and supply for fire protection services in the smaller municipalities and rural areas of Tennessee

Fire protection is a public service that plays a unique role protecting human life and property in a community. Recent studies indicate that fire protection is one of the key community characteris-tics in the plant location and expansion decisions made by industrial leaders, yet fire protection services are recognized to be severely inadequate in the rural areas of Tennessee. For these reasons, the specific public service to be analyzed in this study is fire protection. The problem faced by local government officials is to maintain and/or increase the quantity and quality of local public services in the face of a generally unfavorable financial situation. This issue, as it relates to the delivery of fire protection services, will be the focal point of the theoretical and policy considerations found in the study. The overall purpose of this study is to gain a fuller understanding of the economic costs of supplying fire protection services to the smaller communities and rural areas of Tennessee. The specific objectives are: 1) To examine topics of importance to the economic analysis of fire protection and to discuss the theoretical viewpoints relevant to the economic analysis of the cost and supply of a public service. 2) To specify and analyze models of the total and average cost of supplying fire protection services. a. To incorporate within the cost models a measure of quality and an imputed value for voluntary effort. b. To determine the existence and magnitude of economies or diseconomies of size associated with the cost of supply-ing fire protection services. 3) To delineate a supply function for fire protection services. An economic model of the cost of supplying fire protection services is presented that incorporates an imputed value for voluntary effort. The basic concern is with those variables that are hypothesized to be determinants of cost. A total cost model is specified with con-sideration given to the measurement of quantity and quality of output, and the definition of the environment in which this public service is delivered. The basic economic model of total cost and two modifications of the model were analyzed by using multiple regression techniques. Data requirements necessary for the analysis were fulfilled from a combination of primary and secondary data sources. Secondary data were supplemented by primary data obtained from a comprehensive survey of fire chiefs in Tennessee. Each estimation is discussed in terms of the explanatory power of the model and the level of significance, behavior, and magnitude of the results displayed by the variables considered. The major conclusions from the study are as follows: 1) The evaluation system for fire departments needs to incorporate within it indicators of individual quality performance such as actual response time, fire suppression effectiveness, and specialized rural equipment. 2) The total cost of supplying fire protection services is more dependent upon the quantity and quality of output supplied, the number of alarms related to fire protection, and the number of professional firemen than the physical environment in which the service is delivered. 3) The average cost function was hypothesized and shown to be L-shaped indicating the presence of economies of scale for the delivery of fire protection service beginning very gradually at a population protected level of 2,000. A stable low point nearly parallel to the quantity of output axis is reached beginning at a population protected level of around 12,000. 4) General revenue sharing is assumed to decrease the risk and uncertainty for local decision makers in terms of finances for public purposes and politics for selfish motives. By the use of specific economic assumptions and analytical techniques, it was shown that this influence of revenue sharing causes the supply function of a public service such as fire protection to be more responsive in terms of increasing the quantity and quality of the output supplied of the public service. The improvement of the level of public services in a community improves the quality of life for the citizens, but more importantly, this improvement may provide the needed emphasis for a sustained period of economic development. Employment providing industries are attracted to communities with good public services, and in particular, a high level of fire protection service

Feasibility of wood industries in Model Valley

Important areas of distress in the American economy have been identified, and the people living in these areas and their problems are major concerns of national, state, and local governments. One such area is Appalachia and within Appalachia there are many valleys that have all the characteristics associated with distressed areas. Model Valley, where this study was made, is one of these areas. This study is concerned with one aspect of alleviating such distress, namely, the creation of job opportunities through the development of an integrated wood industry to use the limited resources of the area. One hope is that the development of an integrated wood industry in Model Valley would offer a partial solution to the problem of economic decline in the area. The objective of this study, therefore, is to deter-mine whether it would be feasible to locate an integrated wood industry in the area. The study was divided into the following sections: a review of the existing wood industries in the area; a compilation of forest inven-tory data; a selection of the wood industries that the available wood resource base can support; the further selection of the wood industries that appear to be feasible for development and an economic analysis of each of these industries. Finally, a set of recommendations was made stating the requirements necessary for the successful establishment and maintenance of the selected wood industries

A simple and versatile analytical approach for planar metamaterials

We present an analytical model which permits the calculation of effective material parameters for planar metamaterials consisting of arbitrary unit cells (metaatoms) formed by a set of straight wire sections of potentially different shape. The model takes advantage of resonant electric dipole oscillations in the wires and their mutual coupling. The pertinent form of the metaatom determines the actual coupling features. This procedure represents a kind of building block model for quite different metaatoms. Based on the parameters describing the individual dipole oscillations and their mutual coupling the entire effective metamaterial tensor can be determined. By knowing these parameters for a certain metaatom it can be systematically modified to create the desired features. Performing such modifications effective material properties as well as the far field intensities remain predictable. As an example the model is applied to reveal the occurrence of optical activity if the split ring resonator metaatom is modified to L- or S-shaped metaatoms.Comment: 5 figures, 1 tabl

SuperWASP Observations of the 2007 Outburst of Comet 17P/Holmes

We present wide-field imaging of the 2007 outburst of Comet 17P/Holmes obtained serendipitously by SuperWASP-North on 17 nights over a 42-night period beginning on the night (2007 October 22-23) immediately prior to the outburst. Photometry of 17P's unresolved coma in SuperWASP data taken on the first night of the outburst is consistent with exponential brightening, suggesting that the rapid increase in the scattering cross-section of the coma could be largely due to the progressive fragmentation of ejected material produced on a very short timescale at the time of the initial outburst, with fragmentation timescales decreasing from t(frag)~2x10^3 s to t(frag)~1x10^3 s over our observing period. Analysis of the expansion of 17P's coma reveals a velocity gradient suggesting that the outer coma was dominated by material ejected in an instantaneous, explosive manner. We find an expansion velocity at the edge of the dust coma of v(exp) = 0.55+/-0.02 km/s and a likely outburst date of t_0=2007 October 23.3+/-0.3, consistent with our finding that the comet remained below SuperWASP's detection limit of m(V)~15 mag until at least 2007 October 23.3. Modelling of 17P's gas coma indicates that its outer edge, which was observed to extend past the outer dust coma, is best explained with a single pulse of gas production, consistent with our conclusions concerning the production of the outer dust coma.Comment: 36 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Anatomy of avian rictal bristles in Caprimulgiformes reveals reduced tactile function in open-habitat, partially diurnal foraging species

Avian rictal bristles are present in many species of birds, especially in nocturnal species. Rictal bristles occur along the upper beak and are morphologically similar to mammalian whiskers. Mammalian whiskers are important tactile sensors, guiding locomotion, foraging and social interactions, and have a well‐characterised anatomy. However, it is not yet known whether avian rictal bristles have a sensory function, and their morphology, anatomy and function have also not been described in many species. Our study compares bristle morphology, follicle anatomy and their association with foraging traits, across 12 Caprimulgiform species. Rictal bristle morphology and follicle anatomy were diverse across the 12 species. Nine of the 12 species had mechanoreceptors around their bristle follicles; however, there was large variation in their musculature, mechanoreceptor numbers and bristle morphology. Overall, species with short, thin, branching bristles that lacked mechanoreceptors tended to forage pre‐dusk in open habitats, whereas species with mechanoreceptors around their bristle follicle tended to forage at night and in more closed habitats. We suggest that rictal bristles are likely to be tactile in many species and may aid in navigation, foraging and collision avoidance; however, identifying rictal bristle function is challenging and demands further investigation in many species

Approaching the Gamow Window with Stored Ions : Direct Measurement of Xe 124 (p,γ) in the ESR Storage Ring

© 2019 American Physical Society. All rights reserved.We report the first measurement of low-energy proton-capture cross sections of Xe124 in a heavy-ion storage ring. Xe12454+ ions of five different beam energies between 5.5 and 8 AMeV were stored to collide with a windowless hydrogen target. The Cs125 reaction products were directly detected. The interaction energies are located on the high energy tail of the Gamow window for hot, explosive scenarios such as supernovae and x-ray binaries. The results serve as an important test of predicted astrophysical reaction rates in this mass range. Good agreement in the prediction of the astrophysically important proton width at low energy is found, with only a 30% difference between measurement and theory. Larger deviations are found above the neutron emission threshold, where also neutron and γ widths significantly impact the cross sections. The newly established experimental method is a very powerful tool to investigate nuclear reactions on rare ion beams at low center-of-mass energies.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

The immune cell landscape in kidneys of patients with lupus nephritis.

Lupus nephritis is a potentially fatal autoimmune disease for which the current treatment is ineffective and often toxic. To develop mechanistic hypotheses of disease, we analyzed kidney samples from patients with lupus nephritis and from healthy control subjects using single-cell RNA sequencing. Our analysis revealed 21 subsets of leukocytes active in disease, including multiple populations of myeloid cells, T cells, natural killer cells and B cells that demonstrated both pro-inflammatory responses and inflammation-resolving responses. We found evidence of local activation of B cells correlated with an age-associated B-cell signature and evidence of progressive stages of monocyte differentiation within the kidney. A clear interferon response was observed in most cells. Two chemokine receptors, CXCR4 and CX3CR1, were broadly expressed, implying a potentially central role in cell trafficking. Gene expression of immune cells in urine and kidney was highly correlated, which would suggest that urine might serve as a surrogate for kidney biopsies