Property Tax Lids and the Effect on Kansas

Cross sectional time series data in a partial adjustment model examine local government behavior under an aggregate property tax levy limit and under Truth in Taxation in Kansas. Results indicate that the aggregate levy limit would have continued to restrict property tax revenue and spending had it not been replaced.Public Economics,

Analyzing the Catalytic Role of Asp97 in the Methionine Aminopeptidase from \u3cem\u3eEscherichia coli\u3c/em\u3e

An active site aspartate residue, Asp97, in the methionine aminopeptidase (MetAPs) from Escherichia coli (EcMetAP-I) was mutated to alanine, glutamate, and asparagine. Asp97 is the lone carboxylate residue bound to the crystallographically determined second metal-binding site in EcMetAP-I. These mutant EcMetAP-I enzymes have been kinetically and spectroscopically characterized. Inductively coupled plasma–atomic emission spectroscopy analysis revealed that 1.0 ± 0.1 equivalents of cobalt were associated with each of the Asp97-mutated EcMetAP-Is. The effect on activity after altering Asp97 to alanine, glutamate or asparagine is, in general, due to a ∼ 9000-fold decrease in kca towards Met-Gly-Met-Met as compared to the wild-type enzyme. The Co(II) d–d spectra for wild-type, D97E and D97A EcMetAP-I exhibited very little difference in form, in each case, between the monocobalt(II) and dicobalt(II) EcMetAP-I, and only a doubling of intensity was observed upon addition of a second Co(II) ion. In contrast, the electronic absorption spectra of [Co_(D97N EcMetAP-I)] and [CoCo(D97N EcMetAP-I)] were distinct, as were the EPR spectra. On the basis of the observed molar absorptivities, the Co(II) ions binding to the D97E, D97A and D97N EcMetAP-I active sites are pentacoordinate. Combination of these data suggests that mutating the only nonbridging ligand in the second divalent metal-binding site in MetAPs to an alanine, which effectively removes the ability of the enzyme to form a dinuclear site, provides a MetAP enzyme that retains catalytic activity, albeit at extremely low levels. Although mononuclear MetAPs are active, the physiologically relevant form of the enzyme is probably dinuclear, given that the majority of the data reported to date are consistent with weak cooperative binding

Etanol, meio ambiente e tecnologia: reflexões sobre a experiência brasileira.

O trabalho apresenta uma breve reflexão sobre os principais aspectos ambientais e tecnológicos da experiência brasileira voltada à produção e ao uso de etanol a partir da cana-de-açúcar. Ao se analisar toda a cadeia produtiva do etanol, observa-se que o aproveitamento estratégico de todos os subprodutos da cana-de-açúcar é condição essencial para a sustentabilidade do processo produtivo. Por sua vez, a queima da cana-de-açúcar para colheita e a expansão da monocultura canavieira são fatores que requerem maior atenção. O trabalho demonstra que a produção de etanol de cana-deaçúcar contribui para a sustentabilidade ambiental e que seu uso como combustível renovável é favorável em relação aos combustíveis fósseis

Gas phase polymerization of ethylene with a silica-supported metallocene catalyst: influence of temperature on deactivation

Ethylene was polymerized at 5 bar in a stirred powder bed reactor with silica supported rac-Me2Si[Ind]2ZrCl2/methylaluminoxane (MAO) at temperatures between 40°C and 80°C using NaCl as support bed and triethylaluminium (TEA) as a scavenger for impurities. For this fixed recipe and a given charge of catalyst. the average catalyst activity is reproducible within 10% for low temperatures. The polymerization rate and the rate of deactivation increase with increasing temperature. The deactivation could be modeled using a first order dependence with respect to the polymerization rate

Growth, Structural and Micro hardness studies of KSbF4 and K2SbF5 crystals

Interest in Potassium Fluoro Antimonate crystals has been increased for the last four decades due its superionic conduction and its unusual electro-optic properties. Potassium tetra fluoro antimonate (KSbF4) and Potassium penta fluoro antimonite (K2SbF5) crystals have been grown by slow evaporation method. KSbF4 crystallizes into orthorhombic structure with a space group Pmmn. K2SbF5 belongs to orthorhombic crystal system with a space group Cmcm.nbsp Micro indentation analysis on these crystals indicates that they are moderately softer substances. Both crystals revealed reverse indentation size effect (RISE). Variation of stiffness constant with load has been discussed. Yield strength for KSbF4 and K2SbF5 crystals have been found out as 16.72 and 16.941 MPa respectively.nbs

Influences of hospital information systems, indicator data collection and computation on reported Dutch hospital performance indicator scores

Background: For health care performance indicators (PIs) to be reliable, data underlying the PIs are required to be complete, accurate, consistent and reproducible. Given the lack of regulation of the data-systems used in the Netherlands, and the self-report based indicator scores, one would expect heterogeneity with respect to the data collection and the ways indicators are computed. This might affect the reliability and plausibility of the nationally reported scores. Methods. We aimed to investigate the extent to which local hospital data collection and indicator computation strategies differ and how this affects the plausibility of self-reported indicator scores, using survey results of 42 hospitals and data of the Dutch national quality database. Results: The data collection and indicator computation strategies of the hospitals were substantially heterogenic. Moreover, the Hip and Knee replacement PI scores can be regarded as largely implausible, which was, to a great extent, related to a limited (computerized) data registry. In contrast, Breast Cancer PI scores were more plausible, despite the incomplete data registry and limited data access. This might be explained by the role of the regional cancer centers that collect most of the indicator data for the national cancer registry, in a standardized manner. Hospitals can use cancer registry indicator scores to report to the government, instead of their own locally collected indicator scores. Conclusions: Indicator developers, users and the scientific field need to focus more on the underlying (heterogenic) ways of data collection and conditional data infrastructures. Countries that have a liberal software market and are aiming to implement a self-report based performance indicator system to obtain health care transparency, should secure the accuracy and precision of the heath care data from which the PIs are calculated. Moreover, ongoing research and development of PIs and profound insight in the clinical practice of data registration is warranted