Gravitation Research

Contains research objectives and project status

The rich demystified: A reply to Bach, Corneo, and Steiner (2008)

The contribution Bach, Corneo and Steiner (2008) has argued that "the rich" do not pay taxes adequately in relation to their income, finding, for instance, an effective tax rate of only 38.1% for the 0.001% fractile of German income taxpayers in 2001. This result contrasts sharply with the legislated top marginal income tax rate of 48.5%. We subject the results contained in Bach, Corneo and Steiner (2008) to a rigorous analysis: We find major flaws and inconsistencies with regard to methodology, i.e. the omission of corporate taxes and inter-temporal aspects of taxation. Restating basic rules for the measurement of effective tax rates, we provide values for what we term the "comprehensive nominal tax rate" (CNTR) and show that the headline result in Bach, Corneo and Steiner (2008) of 38.1% is underestimated by over 12 percentage points. As an important distributional result, the CNTR increases with increasing taxable income. --Top Incomes,Income Taxation,Taxing the Rich,Comprehensive Tax Burden

The Rich Demystified - A Reply to Bach, Corneo, and Steiner (2008)

The contribution Bach, Corneo, and Steiner (2008) has argued that “the rich” do not pay taxes adequately in relation to their income, finding, for instance, an effective tax rate of only 38.1% for the 0.001% fractile of German income taxpayers in 2001. This result contrasts sharply with the legislated top marginal income tax rate of 48.5%. We subject the results contained in Bach, Corneo, and Steiner (2008) to a rigorous analysis: We find major flaws and inconsistencies with regard to methodology, i.e. the omission of corporate taxes and inter-temporal aspects of taxation. Restating basic rules for the measurement of effective tax rates, we provide values for what we term the “comprehensive nominal tax rate” (CNTR) and show that the headline result in Bach, Corneo, and Steiner (2008) of 38.1% is underestimated by over 12 percentage points. As an important distributional result, the CNTR increases with increasing taxable income.top incomes, income taxation, taxing the rich, comprehensive nominal tax rate

Solid-state laser intensity stabilization at the 10^-8 level

A high-power, low-noise photodetector, in conjunction with a current shunt actuator, is used in an ac-coupled servo to stabilize the intensity of a 10^-W cw Nd:YAG laser. A relative intensity noise of 1×10^-8 Hz^-1/2 at 10 Hz is achieved

Gravitation Research

Contains research objectives and reports on two research projects.Joint Services Electronics Programs (U.S. Army, U. S. Navy, and U. S. Air Force) under Contract DA 36-039-AMC-03200(E

Gravitation Research

Contains reports on one research project.Joint Services Electronics Program (Contract DAAB07-71-C-0300)National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Grant NGR 22-009-526

Gravitation Research

Contains reports on two research projects.Joint Services Electronics Programs (U.S. Army, U. S. Navy, and U. S. Air Force) under Contract DAAB07-71-C-0300National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Grant NGR 22-009-526)National Science Foundation (Grant GP-24254

Multiple pathways of plasmid DNA transfer in Helicobacter pylori

Many Helicobacter pylori (Hp) strains carry cryptic plasmids of different size and gene content, the function of which is not well understood. A subgroup of these plasmids (e.g. pHel4, pHel12), contain a mobilisation region, but no cognate type IV secretion system (T4SS) for conjugative transfer. Instead, certain H. pylori strains (e.g. strain P12 carrying plasmid pHel12) can harbour up to four T4SSs in their genome (cag-T4SS, comB, tfs3, tfs4). Here, we show that such indigenous plasmids can be efficiently transferred between H. pylori strains, even in the presence of extracellular DNaseI eliminating natural transformation. Knockout of a plasmid-encoded mobA relaxase gene significantly reduced plasmid DNA transfer in the presence of DNaseI, suggesting a DNA conjugation or mobilisation process. To identify the T4SS involved in this conjugative DNA transfer, each individual T4SS was consecutively deleted from the bacterial chromosome. Using a marker-free counterselectable gene deletion procedure (rpsL counterselection method), a P12 mutant strain was finally obtained with no single T4SS (P12ΔT4SS). Mating experiments using these mutants identified the comB T4SS in the recipient strain as the major mediator of plasmid DNA transfer between H. pylori strains, both in a DNaseI-sensitive (natural transformation) as well as a DNaseI-resistant manner (conjugative transfer). However, transfer of a pHel12::cat plasmid from a P12ΔT4SS donor strain into a P12ΔT4SS recipient strain provided evidence for the existence of a third, T4SS-independent mechanism of DNA transfer. This novel type of plasmid DNA transfer, designated as alternate DNaseI-Resistant (ADR) mechanism, is observed at a rather low frequency under in vitro conditions. Taken together, our study describes for the first time the existence of three distinct pathways of plasmid DNA transfer between H. pylori underscoring the importance of horizontal gene transfer for this species

Gravitation Research

Contains research objectives, summary of research and reports on one research project.National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Grant NGR 22-009-526)Joint Services Electronics Programs (U. S. Army, U. S. Navy, and U. S. Air Force) under Contract DAAB07-71-C-030

About interrelation of structure of an anomalous geochemical field with the mechanism of formation of hydrothermal system

The model of formation of anomalous structures of geochemical fields during formation of thermo-fluidic ore-forming system is proposed. The morphology of these fields is caused by the combination of diverged mineral zonation in relation to a power source and converging zonation in relation to the centers of an ore deposition. Influence of tectonic conditions of functioning of hydrothermal system on an internal structure of anomalous geochemical fields is shown. Connection of efficiency of hydrothermal deposits with structure of a geochemical field containing them is grounded