The Disappearing State Corporate Income Tax

This paper examines alternative explanations for the decline over the past two decades in state corporate income taxes relative to the state economy. We employ a survey of state tax administrators, individual tax returns from Georgia and Utah, and panel data to explore the importance of tax policy, tax planning, and economic factors on the trend in state corporate taxes. We find that corporate tax planning and economic factors account for much of the relative decline and that state tax policy changes are important factors. However, federal tax changes had only a modest effect during this period. Working Paper 06-2

Letting Down the Team? Evidence of Social Effects of Team Incentives

This paper estimates social effects of incentivizing people in teams. In two field experiments featuring exogenous team formation and opportunities for repeated social interactions, we find large team effects that operate through social channels. The team compensation system induced agents to choose effort as if they valued a marginal dollar of compensation for their teammate from two-thirds as much (in one study) to twice as much as they valued a dollar of their own compensation (in the other study). We conclude that social effects of monetary team incentives exist and can induce effort at lower cost than through direct individual payment.

Chlamydia trachomatis and Chlamydophila abortus induce the expression of secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor in cells of the human female reproductive tract

C. trachomatis and C. abortus are related Gram-negative intracellular bacteria that cause reproductive failure due to infertility (C. trachomatis) or abortion (C. abortus). These organisms target epithelial cells in the reproductive tract and/or placenta, but the innate immune mechanisms that lead to protection or pathology and disease are poorly understood. SLPI is an innate immune molecule which protects mucosal surfaces from infection and injury. C. trachomatis and C. abortus were found to induce SLPI mRNA and peptide expression in HeLa (cervical epithelium) and JEG-3 cells (trophoblast) respectively. Both cell lines constitutively expressed SLPI and, although infection enhanced this expression, killed organisms did not. These data demonstrate that Chlamydia/Chlamydophila grow in cells that express SLPI, suggesting that SLPI does not exert antimicrobial effects against these organisms. However, SLPI has multiple functions, and we speculate that it may play a role in controlling tissue inflammation and pathology

Non-Suicidal Self-Injury and Suicidal Behaviour in Children and Adolescents Accessing Residential or Intensive Home-Based Mental Health Services

Objective: There is a dearth of Canadian research with clinical samples of youth who self-harm, and no studies could be located on self-harm in children and youth accessing residential or intensive home-based treatment. The purposes of this report were to explore the proportion and characteristics of children and youth identified as self-harming at admission by clinicians compared to youth not identified as self-harming, compare self-harming children to adolescents, and to compare caregiver ratings of self-harm at intake to clinician ratings at admission. Method: This report was developed from a larger longitudinal, observational study involving 210 children and youth accessing residential and home-based treatment and their caregivers in partnership with five mental health treatment centres in southwestern Ontario. Agency data were gleaned from files, and caregivers reported on symptom severity at 12 to 18 months and 36 to 40 months post-discharge. Results: Fifty-seven (34%) children and youth were identified as self-harming at admission. The mean age was 11.57 (SD 2.75). There were statistically significant differences on symptom severity at intake between those identified as self-harming and those not so identified; most of these differences were no longer present at follow up. Children were reported to have higher severity of conduct disorder symptoms than adolescents at intake, and there was some consistency between caregiver-rated and clinician-rated self-harm. Children were reported to engage in a wide range of self-harming behaviours. Conclusion: These findings suggest that youth who were identified as self-harming at admission have elevated scores of symptom severity, self-harm can occur in young children and while many improve, there remains a concern for several children and youth who did not improve by the end of service. Children engage in some of the same types of self-harm behaviours as adolescents, and they also engage in behaviours unique to children

Evaluating Effectiveness of Modeling Motion System Feedback in the Enhanced Hess Structural Model of the Human Operator

In order to use the Hess Structural Model to predict the need for certain cueing systems, George and Cardullo significantly expanded it by adding motion feedback to the model and incorporating models of the motion system dynamics, motion cueing algorithm and a vestibular system. This paper proposes a methodology to evaluate effectiveness of these innovations by performing a comparison analysis of the model performance with and without the expanded motion feedback. The proposed methodology is composed of two stages. The first stage involves fine-tuning parameters of the original Hess structural model in order to match the actual control behavior recorded during the experiments at NASA Visual Motion Simulator (VMS) facility. The parameter tuning procedure utilizes a new automated parameter identification technique, which was developed at the Man-Machine Systems Lab at SUNY Binghamton. In the second stage of the proposed methodology, an expanded motion feedback is added to the structural model. The resulting performance of the model is then compared to that of the original one. As proposed by Hess, metrics to evaluate the performance of the models include comparison against the crossover models standards imposed on the crossover frequency and phase margin of the overall man-machine system. Preliminary results indicate the advantage of having the model of the motion system and motion cueing incorporated into the model of the human operator. It is also demonstrated that the crossover frequency and the phase margin of the expanded model are well within the limits imposed by the crossover model

Accounting for the association of family conflict and heavy alcohol use among adolescent girls: the role of depressed mood

Objective: Heavy alcohol use increases dramatically at age 14, and there is emerging cross-sectional evidence that when girls experience family conflict at younger ages (11-13 years) the risk of alcohol use and misuse is high. This study evaluated the role of family conflict and subsequent depressed mood in predicting heavy alcohol use among adolescent girls. Method: This was a three-wave longitudinal study with annual assessments (modal ages 12, 13, and 14 years). The participants (N = 886, 57% female) were from 12 metropolitan schools in Victoria, Australia, and participants completed questionnaires during school class time. The key measures were based on the Communities That Care Youth Survey and included family conflict (Wave 1), depressed mood (Wave 2), and heavy alcohol use (Wave 3). Control variables included school commitment, number of peers who consumed alcohol, whether parents were living together, and ethnic background. Results: With all controls in the model, depressed mood at Wave 2 was predicted by family conflict at Wave 1. The interaction of family conflict with gender was significant, with girls showing a stronger association of family conflict and depressed mood. Depressed mood at Wave 2 predicted heavy alcohol use at Wave 3. Conclusions: Girls may be especially vulnerable to family conflict, and subsequent depressed mood increases the risk of heavy alcohol use. The results support the need for gender-sensitive family-oriented prevention programs delivered in late childhood and early adolescence. (J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs, 74, 396-405, 2013

The relationship between psychological distress and adolescent polydrug use

Polydrug use is relatively common among adolescents. Psychological distress is associated with the use of specific drugs, and may be uniquely associated with polydrug use. The purpose of this study was to test the association of psychological distress with polydrug use using a large adolescent sample. The sample consisted of 10,273 students aged 12-17 years from the State of Victoria, Australia. Participants completed frequency measures of tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, inhalant, and other drug use in the past 30 days, and psychological distress. Control variables included age, gender, family socioeconomic status, school suspensions, academic failure, cultural background, and peer drug use. Drug-use classes were derived using latent-class analysis, then the association of psychological distress and controls with drug-use classes was modeled using multinomial ordinal regression. There were 3 distinct classes of drug use: no drug use (47.7%), mainly alcohol use (44.1%), and polydrug use (8.2%). Independent of all controls, psychological distress was higher in polydrug users and alcohol users, relative to nondrug users, and polydrug users reported more psychological distress than alcohol users. Psychological distress was most characteristic of polydrug users, and targeted prevention outcomes may be enhanced by a collateral focus on polydrug use and depression and/or anxiety

Development and application of assay for determining β-glucosidase activity in human saliva

β-glucosidase is an enzyme important to flavour enhancement. It hydrolyzes glucosides to release aglycones—aroma precursors that are bound to a sugar molecule—thereby making them available to contribute to the flavour of foods and beverages. While there is strong interest within the food and beverage industry to optimizing flavour through the use of exogenous and endogenous glucosidase in production, little is known regarding the possible occurrence of these enzymes within the human oral cavity. This could be an important source of flavour release and/or account for some differences between individuals in flavour perception. In the present study, we determined whether β-glucosidase is present in human saliva. First, an existing spectrophotometric assay that uses p-nitrophenyl-β-O- D -glucopyranoside as a substrate was modified and optimized for use in human saliva. The following variables were evaluated and where necessary, optimized: linearity of the assay signal, possible matrix interference, the effect of heat inactivation of the saliva, absorbance wavelength maxima, substrate saturation concentration, maximum saliva volume and the inclusion of α-cyclodextrin. The modified assay was then used to screen for β-glucosidase activity in the saliva of 20 individuals. Of the 20 samples analyzed, four were tentatively identified as containing active β-glucosidase and were further investigated.Brock University Library Open Access Publishing Fun

Outbreak of Aeromonas hydrophila wound infections association with mud football

On 16 February 2002, a total of 26 people presented to the emergency department of the local hospital in the rural town of Collie in southwest Western Australia with many infected scratches and pustules distributed over their bodies. All of the patients had participated in a “mud football” competition the previous day, in which there had been 100 participants. One patient required removal of an infected thumbnail, and another required surgical debridement of an infected toe. Aeromonas hydrophila was isolated from all 3 patients from whom swab specimens were obtained. To prepare the mud football fields, a paddock was irrigated with water that was pumped from an adjacent river during the 1-month period before the competition. A. hydrophila was subsequently isolated from a water sample obtained from the river. This is the first published report of an outbreak of A. hydrophila wound infections associated with exposure to mud.Hassan Vally, Amanda Whittle, Scott Cameron, Gary K. Dowse and Tony Watso