Regional Effects of Taxes in Canada: An Applied General Equilibrium Approach

This paper reports on an applied general equilibrium regional model for Canada which is used to investigate the regional effects of taxes. Earlier, literature on regional tax effects is reviewed and the main features of the model are briefly described. Existing literature on regional tax effects is largely non-quantitative, and does not discuss several important regional features of taxes, such as taxes which are predominantly on products or industries located in particular regions. Results suggest that regional effects of taxes can be significant, and in the Canadian case at least, do not tend to counterbalance one another. In general, richer regions tend to lose and poorer regions gain from federal taxes, but other regional characteristics such as manufacturing/non-manufacturing, or resource/non-resource can be important.

Strengthening State Systems and Policies to Foster Two-Generation Strategies and Practices

This policy brief reports on the first three years of an initiative to work directly with five WPFP state partners in AR, CO, GA, KY, and NC to enhance their state's commitment and ability to serve and support adults and children collectively as well as drive local programs to do so by reviewing the efforts of the five state partners. After first providing more background on Two-Generation efforts across the U.S. in recent years, this brief discusses: 1) the WPFP concept and approach to the initiative; 2) the work of the five state partners, including the state systems identified for this work and specific items identified for improvement within those systems as well as progress to date; and 3) lessons learned and observations of this work with a clear recognition of the challenges and complexities inherent in undertaking systems change work

The affects of background features on far testing

Examined is whether or not the background features of the typical Pacific University examination room affect the patient\u27s visual behavior as shown in lateral phoria and duction tests performed at six meters. Far phoria and duction measurements were taken on 36 subjects under the following three conditions: 1) Cluttered Field - the unstructured normal exam room background; 2) Empty Field - a large, featureless screen obscuring that background; 3) Cluttered Field with Instructions - with instructions for the subject to be aware of the normal exam room background. Significant changes in phorias and ductions were found when the subjects were instructed to be aware of the several objects in the field

Quasi-diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (QDI): A fast, high b-value diffusion imaging technique.

To enable application of non-Gaussian diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) techniques in large-scale clinical trials and facilitate translation to clinical practice there is a requirement for fast, high contrast, techniques that are sensitive to changes in tissue structure which provide diagnostic signatures at the early stages of disease. Here we describe a new way to compress the acquisition of multi-shell b-value diffusion data, Quasi-Diffusion MRI (QDI), which provides a probe of subvoxel tissue complexity using short acquisition times (1-4 min). We also describe a coherent framework for multi-directional diffusion gradient acquisition and data processing that allows computation of rotationally invariant quasi-diffusion tensor imaging (QDTI) maps. QDI is a quantitative technique that is based on a special case of the Continuous Time Random Walk model of diffusion dynamics and assumes the presence of non-Gaussian diffusion properties within tissue microstructure. QDI parameterises the diffusion signal attenuation according to the rate of decay (i.e. diffusion coefficient, D in mm2 s-1) and the shape of the power law tail (i.e. the fractional exponent, α). QDI provides analogous tissue contrast to Diffusional Kurtosis Imaging (DKI) by calculation of normalised entropy of the parameterised diffusion signal decay curve, Hn, but does so without the limitations of a maximum b-value. We show that QDI generates images with superior tissue contrast to conventional diffusion imaging within clinically acceptable acquisition times of between 84 and 228 s. We show that QDI provides clinically meaningful images in cerebral small vessel disease and brain tumour case studies. Our initial findings suggest that QDI may be added to routine conventional dMRI acquisitions allowing simple application in clinical trials and translation to the clinical arena