267 research outputs found
Managing the effects of tax expenditures on the national budget
No full textTax expenditures, in the form of tax provisions, are government expenditures. They are conceptually and functionally distinct from those tax provisions whose purpose is to raise revenue. Tax expenditure programs are comparable to entitlement programs. Therefore, tax expenditures must be analyzed in spending terms and integrated into the budgetary process to ensure fiscal accountability. In addition, tax expenditures must be audited for performance and the information must be published (with comprehensive analysis) to ensure fiscal transparency. The author analyzes the concept and definition, size, and effects of tax expenditures, as well as the fiscal accountability and transparency of tax expenditure spending. In short, tax expenditures affect (1) the budget balance,(2) budget prioritization in allocation, (3) the effectiveness and efficiency of fiscal resources, and (4) the scope for abuse by taxpayers, government officials and legislators. While reviewing the current practices in tax expenditures against the requirements of fiscal accountability and transparency, she finds that this fiscal area must be strengthened. The author sketches four building blocks to strengthen tax expenditures toward fiscal accountability and transparency, based on the literature developed by Surry and McDaniel, the practices from industrial and developing countries, the Campos and Pradhan fiscal accountability model, and the International Monetary Fund's fiscal transparency code. The author argues that normative/benchmark tax structure, a revenue-raising component of the tax system, should be formalized. The normative/benchmark tax structure should be legally defined in the tax law and should be transparent. The tax receipts from this normative/benchmark tax structure should be quantified and published. Presently, many countries could publish imputed tax revenue from normative/benchmark tax structures because such data is available. Only if imputed tax revenue is published in the same way as the other budget components-tax revenue received, tax expenditures, direct expenditures, and fiscal balance-will a budget system be truly transparent in terms of revenue-raising activities and expenditure activities. In addition, when the tax revenue-raising activity is formalized, the inherent spending nature of tax expenditures is further exposed. Therefore, tax expenditures should be added to direct expenditures forming total government expenditures. Furthermore, the conventional concept of the size of government should be remedied by including both direct expenditures and tax expenditures.Public Sector Economics&Finance,Tax Law,Fiscal Adjustment,Public Sector Fiscal Adjustment,Economic Theory&Research
Neurotransmitter measurements in the human brain at 3 Tesla and 7 Tesla
No full textMagnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) is a powerful technique that can potentially be used to measure metabolite concentrations in the brain non-invasively. However, the available signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) of MR spectra are limited because metabolites are present in low (millimolar or less) concentrations, and different resonances overlap in frequency. These challenges have led to the use of specialized pulse sequences and increasingly higher static magnetic field strengths. The emergence of higher fields presents opportunities for making more precise measurements of metabolites and for acquisitions from smaller volumes or in faster times.
First, this thesis addresses the need to re-evaluate the optimal measurement and sequence parameters to be used at ultra-high field (7 Tesla) for detecting specific brain metabolites. By calculating theoretical Cramer-Rao Lower Bound (CRLB) values for a set of 17 metabolites that are above or near the detection threshold, the optimal PRESS sequence timings for acquisitions have been designed. The advantage of this approach is that calculation of CRLBs is versatile and may be used to evaluate optimal parameters for other pulse sequences. Second, this thesis includes a quantitative comparison of measurements of the neurotransmitter GABA made using MEGA-PRESS between 3 Tesla and 7 Tesla, and defines the bandwidth requirements for making measurements with higher precision at higher fields. Third, the thesis also evaluates and demonstrates the potential of novel event-related functional spectroscopic acquisitions and investigates changes in metabolite profiles as a function of neuronal activity with relatively high temporal resolution. The transient changes in metabolites that occur following short periods of stimulation of visual cortex have been quantified
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First person – Roopali Pradhan
No full textABSTRACT First Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Journal of Cell Science, helping early-career researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Roopali Pradhan is first author on ‘Lamin A/C modulates spatial organization and function of the Hsp70 gene locus via nuclear myosin I’, published in JCS. Roopali conducted the research described in this article while an integrated MS-PhD student in Dr Kundan Sengupta's lab at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pashan, Pune, India. She is now a postdoctoral research associate in the lab of Prof. Julie Ahringer at Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute, UK, where she is interested in understanding chromatin organization across development and ageing, particularly the regulation imparted by nuclear landmarks and transcriptional activity in shaping local and global genome architecture
Anisotropic stars in 4D Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity
No full textWe wish to thank the anonymous reviewer for comments and suggestions. The author T. T would like to thank the financial support from the Science Achievement Scholarship of Thailand (SAST) . A. Pradhan thanks to IUCCA, Pune, India for providing fa-cilities under associateship programmes. The author G. P. thanks the FundacAo para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT) , Portugal, for the financial support to the Center for Astrophysics and Gravitation-CENTRA, Chile, Instituto Superior Tecnico, Universidade de Lis-boa, Portugal, through the Project No. UIDB/00099/2020 and No. PTDC/FIS-AST/28920/2017
Out-of-Plane Behavior of URM Infill: Accuracy of Available Capacity Models
No full textThe aim of this paper is to check the accuracy of analytical capacity models available for the prediction of out-of-plane strength of unreinforced masonry (URM) infill walls. The accuracy of the available models is checked by detailed comparison with the existing experimental results. In doing so, both types of capacity models are evaluated: Type I for the prediction of the strength in the undamaged state, and Type II for the prediction of strength reduction in the in-plane damaged state. Results from the calculations are discussed, and the best among the available models are recommended. Furthermore, the influence of orthotropy of the infill masonry in the out-of-plane capacity predicted by the models is discussed. The paper also highlights the prospect of using the capacity models in the cases of infill-beam gap and infill with openings. In the paper, the best pairs of models (composed by a model for the prediction of the out-of-plane strength in the undamaged state and a model for the prediction of the reduction of the out-of-plane strength in the damaged state, not necessarily provided by the same author) for URM infill walls, are suggested for the first time
Marginalization and contemporaneous aggregation in multivariate GARCH processes
No full textTime Series;GARCH Models
AN ACCOUNT OF OLD RONG SCRIPT AND TRANSLATION
No full text
Many tribes lived in the Eastern Himalaya since the time immemorial. Each tribe has the distinct dialect, belief, culture and tradition. The borders of the region of each tribe marked with the rivers, mountain, hills, landmarks of frontiers, forts etc.
Referring to the document of Lho Men Tsong, it stated that there were eight communities of Lho in Sikkim Himalayan regions along with Lepcha and Subba (Moktan, 2004). The details of Lho communities were not elaborated which require more researches.
As there are less researches in this aspect of Sikkim, the scopes of research are available on anthropology, archeology, script etc to reveal the ancient history of Sikkim (Siiger and Jorgensen, 1966; Siiger, 1966, 1967; Siiger and Rischel, 1967; Pradhan, 2021).
In this attempt, the study was undertaken to interpret the information written in the archives documents of Lepcha, which are presumably the oldest written documents of Sikkim (Moktan, 2004). To add the value on the oldest written documents, the translation of script was done, which are interpreted and presented by the author. </p
Bianchi type-I universe in Lyra manifold with quadratic equation of state
No full text32nd International Physics Congress of Turkish-Physical-Society (TPS) -- SEP 06-09, 2016 -- Bodrum, TURKEYIn this study, we have solved Einstein field equations for Bianchi type I universe model in Lyra manifold with quadratic equation of state (EoS) p = alpha rho(t)(2) - rho(t). Where alpha not equal 0 is an important constant. Cosmic pressure, density and displacement vector (beta(2)) are related with a constant. In this study beta(2) is a decreasing function of time and behaves like a cosmological constant. These solutions agree with the studies of lialford, Pradhan and Singh, Aygun et al., Agarwal et al., Yadav and liaque as well as SN la observations.Turkish Phys So
Interfacial colloidal assembly guided by optical tweezers and tuned via surface charge
No full textHypothesis: The size, shape and dynamics of assemblies of colloidal particles optically-trapped at an air–water interface can be tuned by controlling the optical potential, particle concentration, surface charge density and wettability of the particles and the surface tension of the solution. Experiments: The assembly dynamics of different colloidal particle types (silica, polystyrene and carboxyl coated polystyrene particles) at an air–water interface in an optical potential were systematically explored allowing the effect of surface charge on assembly dynamics to be investigated. Additionally, the pH of the solutions were varied in order to modulate surface charge in a controllable fashion. The effect of surface tension on these assemblies was also explored by reducing the surface tension of the supporting solution by mixing ethanol with water. Findings: Silica, polystyrene and carboxyl coated polystyrene particles showed distinct assembly behaviours at the air–water interface that could be rationalised taking into account changes in surface charge (which in addition to being different between the particles could be modified systematically by changing the solution pH). Additionally, this is the first report showing that wettability of the colloidal particles and the surface tension of the solution are critical in determining the resulting assembly at the solution surface. © 2022 The Author(s
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