Individual Income Tax Returns, 2007
Source: Internal Revenue Service
The Individual Complete Report Publication contains complete individual income tax data. The statistics are based on a sample of individual income tax returns, selected before audit, which represents a population of Forms 1040, 1040A, and 1040EZ, including electronic returns.
The report contains data on sources of income, adjusted gross income, exemptions, deductions, taxable income, income tax, modified taxable income, tax credits, self-employment tax, and tax payments.
+ Full Report (PDF; 2 MB)
Understanding the link between malaria risk and climate
Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
The incubation period for malaria parasites within the mosquito is exquisitely temperature-sensitive, so that temperature is a major determinant of malaria risk. Epidemiological models are increasingly used to guide allocation of disease control resources and to assess the likely impact of climate change on global malaria burdens. Temperature-based malaria transmission is generally incorporated into these models using mean monthly temperatures, yet temperatures fluctuate throughout the diurnal cycle. Here we use a thermodynamic malaria development model to demonstrate that temperature fluctuation can substantially alter the incubation period of the parasite, and hence malaria transmission rates. We find that, in general, temperature fluctuation reduces the impact of increases in mean temperature. Diurnal temperature fluctuation around means >21°C slows parasite development compared with constant temperatures, whereas fluctuation around <21°c>
+ Full Paper (PDF; 924 KB)
Florida Spring Baseball is Big Business for Florida
Source: Florida Sports Foundation
The 2009 Florida Grapefruit League season may have lasted only 39 days, but the total economic value (impact) of the Major League Baseball Spring Training to the Florida economy was estimated to be $752.3 million, according to a new study conducted by the Bonn Marketing Research Group, and commissioned by the Florida Sports Foundation in conjunction with the Office of the Governor and Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development.
The 2009 study found that the 2009 Major League Baseball (MLB) Spring Training season generated $284.2 million in total labor income and supported or created 9,205 part-time and full-time jobs. The study showed an increase of $299 million from a study completed during the 2000 Florida Spring Training season that showed a $453 million economic impact. When broken down on a per team basis, the 2009 study shows an average of $47 million economic impact per team to the community that hosts a Major League team for Spring Training.
Included in the economic impact analysis are the 16 MLB teams spring training operating expenditures in the State of Florida, the operating expenditures of the 15 stadiums that house MLB spring training operations, the concessionaire spring training operating expenditures at the 15 stadiums, and spring training game attendee expenditures.
Spring training game attendee expenditures were calculated from data collected through 1,600 personal interviews at all of the 15 spring training stadiums in Florida. Attendees were surveyed during four randomly selected home games for each of the 16 MLB teams.
The largest source of direct expenditures from Spring Training baseball operations is fan spending, accounting for 91 percent of the total expenditures generated by 2009 MLB Florida spring training.
+ Full survey (PDF; 553 KB)
United States Postal Service: Station/Branches Identified For Full Study (PDF; 35 KB)
Source: Postal Regulatory Commission
Post offices under consideration for closure.
Hat tip: PW
Country Analysis Brief: Oman
Source: Energy Information Administration
Oman’s economy is heavily reliant on oil exports for revenue, though diversification into natural gas production has mitigated this to a degree. Roughly two-thirds of Oman’s total energy consumption comes from natural gas and the remainder comes from oil, reflecting the country’s relative abundance of oil and natural gas reserves. Oman’s future domestic energy consumption plans call for increased use of natural gas in energy generation in order to free up more oil for export.
2009 National Transportation Atlas Database
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics
From press release:
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics, a part of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration, released the 2009 edition of the National Transportation Atlas Database (NTAD) this week. The 2009 edition features 10 updated datasets from last year’s NTAD and premieres the Federal Highway Administration’s Highway Performance Monitoring System (HPMS). Also, substantial revisions were made to national parks, waterways, National Bridge Inventory and railways. This year’s NTAD consists of 28 datasets. The NTAD also includes: intermodal terminals, national railway crossings, non-attainment areas and transit rail lines and stations, among other data layers. NTAD 2009 is provided in shapefile format, which is compatible with most Geographical Information Systems (GIS) software.
State Transportation Statistics 2008
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics
From Preface:
The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), a part of DOT’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), presents State Transportation Statistics 2008, a statistical profile of transportation in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. This is the sixth annual edition of the State Transportation Statistics, and a companion document to the National Transportation Statistics (NTS), which is updated quarterly on the BTS website.
Like the previous editions, this document presents transportation information from RITA/BTS, other federal government agencies, and other national sources. A picture of the states’ transportation infrastructure, freight movement and passenger travel, system safety, vehicles, transportation related economy and finance, energy usage and the environment is presented in tables covering the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Tables have been updated with the most recently available data.
Included in this State Transportation Statistics 2008 report is a brief description of the data sources used and a glossary of terms. Also contained in this publication is a summary table that displays the approximate timing of future data releases and contact information for each state’s department of transportation.
Prolonged Grief Disorder: Psychometric Validation of Criteria Proposed for DSM-V and ICD-11
Source: PLoS Medicine
Background
Bereavement is a universal experience, and its association with excess morbidity and mortality is well established. Nevertheless, grief becomes a serious health concern for a relative few. For such individuals, intense grief persists, is distressing and disabling, and may meet criteria as a distinct mental disorder. At present, grief is not recognized as a mental disorder in the DSM-IV or ICD-10. The goal of this study was to determine the psychometric validity of criteria for prolonged grief disorder (PGD) to enhance the detection and potential treatment of bereaved individuals at heightened risk of persistent distress and dysfunction.Methods and Findings
A total of 291 bereaved respondents were interviewed three times, grouped as 0–6, 6–12, and 12–24 mo post-loss. Item response theory (IRT) analyses derived the most informative, unbiased PGD symptoms. Combinatoric analyses identified the most sensitive and specific PGD algorithm that was then tested to evaluate its psychometric validity. Criteria require reactions to a significant loss that involve the experience of yearning (e.g., physical or emotional suffering as a result of the desired, but unfulfilled, reunion with the deceased) and at least five of the following nine symptoms experienced at least daily or to a disabling degree: feeling emotionally numb, stunned, or that life is meaningless; experiencing mistrust; bitterness over the loss; difficulty accepting the loss; identity confusion; avoidance of the reality of the loss; or difficulty moving on with life. Symptoms must be present at sufficiently high levels at least six mo from the death and be associated with functional impairment.Conclusions
The criteria set for PGD appear able to identify bereaved persons at heightened risk for enduring distress and dysfunction. The results support the psychometric validity of the criteria for PGD that we propose for inclusion in DSM-V and ICD-11.
See also: Prolonged Grief Disorder: A Problem for the Past, the Present, and the Future
Health Care Cost Growth and the Economic Performance of U.S. Industries
Source: RAND Corporation
Suggests that excess growth in health care costs has adverse economic effects and that these effects are more pronounced in industries that have a higher percentage of workers with employer-sponsored insurance.
U.S. Handling of Mujahedin-E-Khalq Since U.S. Invasion of Iraq Is Examined
Source: RAND Corporation
At the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Coalition forces classified the Mujahedin-e Khalq, a militant organization from Iran with cult-like elements that advocates the overthrow of Iran’s current government, as an enemy force.
The MeK had provided security services to Saddam Hussein from camps established in Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War to fight Iran in collaboration with Saddam’s forces and resources. A new study from the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit research organization, looks at how coalition forces handled this group following the invasion.
Although the MeK is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization by the United States, coalition forces never had a clear mission on how to deal with it.
After a ceasefire was signed between Coalition forces and the MeK, the U.S. Secretary of Defense designated this group’s members as civilian “protected persons” rather than combatant prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions. The coalition’s treatment of the MeK leaves it – and the United States in particular – open to charges of hypocrisy, offering security to a terrorist group rather than breaking it up.
Research suggests that most of the MeK rank-and-file are neither terrorists nor freedom fighters, but trapped and brainwashed people who would be willing to return to Iran if they were separated from the MeK leadership. Many members were lured to Iraq from other countries with false promises, only to have their passports confiscated by the MeK leadership, which uses physical abuse, imprisonment, and other methods to keep them from leaving.
Iraq wants to expel the group, but no country other than Iran will accept it. The RAND study suggests the best course of action would have been to repatriate MeK rank-and-file members back to Iran, where they have been granted amnesty since 2003. To date, Iran appears to have upheld its commitment to MeK members in Iran. The study also concludes better guidelines be established for the possible detention of members of designated terrorist organizations.
NMHC Quarterly Survey of Apartment Market Conditions (July 2009)
Source: National Multi Housing Council
From press release:
The apartment market continues to struggle, but shows early signs of possibly stabilizing, according to the National Multi Housing Council’s latest Quarterly Survey of Apartment Market Conditions.
All four of the survey’s market indexes covering occupancy, sales volume, equity finance and debt finance remained below 50 (indicating conditions were worse than three months ago), but three of the four increased from the last quarter, with only the debt index recording a decline.
…
Fears of future property value declines are behind the difficulty apartment firms are having in obtaining equity financing. In a special survey question, 76 percent of respondents said potentially falling property values best explained the lack of equity availability.Another 13 percent pointed to deteriorating apartment market conditions resulting from the economic downturn; seven percent said lower leverage required by lenders has reduced expected returns; and three percent said lower leverage means the same equity capital supports fewer transactions. Several respondents commented that all of these conditions contribute collectively to the challenges in obtaining equity finance.
Capital Spending Increases Nearly $201 Billion Between 2000-2007, Census Bureau Reports
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
Spending by all U.S. nonfarm businesses on new and used structures and equipment increased 17 percent, or nearly $201 billion, to a total of $1.362 trillion in 2007. This compares with an earlier cyclical peak of $1.161 trillion in 2000, according to a report today from the U.S. Census Bureau.
These data come from the Census Bureau’s 2009 Capital Spending Report: U.S. Capital Spending Patterns, 1999-2007 [PDF]. The report provides historical data from the Annual Capital Expenditures Survey (ACES) on spending for new and used structures and equipment by all U.S. nonfarm businesses with and without paid employees.
The report begins with 1999, the first year the ACES data were collected under the North American Industry Classification System, and ends with 2007, the most recent reference year for ACES data, and traces the changing composition of capital expenditures for structures and equipment at the national and industry levels. Data at the sector level are available only for employer businesses.
+ 2009 Capital Spending Report: U.S. Capital Spending Patterns, 1999-2007 (PDF; 370 KB)
New GAO Report (PDFs)
Source: Government Accountability Project
1. Consumer Product Safety Commission: Better Data Collection and Assessment of Consumer Information Efforts Could Help Protect Minority Children
Highlights ||| Full Report
USFA Releases Report on the Fire Response to the Northern Illinois University Shooting
Source: U.S. Fire Administration
The United States Fire Administration (USFA) released today a new technical report titled Northern Illinois University Shooting. On February 14, 2008, a former Northern Illinois University (NIU) graduate student walked onto the stage of a large lecture hall and began firing on startled students and faculty. The shooter, a 28-year old male, had a history of mental illness. He shot and killed five students and wounded 18, some critically. His suicide at the end of the brief attack brought the number of deaths to six.
The City of DeKalb Fire Department, the NIU Department of Public Safety, the Kishwaukee Community Hospital, and other mutual aid responders were prepared. They had practiced emergency drills together and coordinated their planning. They were familiar with the Incident Command System and had formally incorporated its use in their plans. The fire/EMS, university police, and university events management partners had worked together frequently in planned and unplanned events, so command and control procedures were well practiced. They also had studied official reports on the Virginia Tech shootings and had integrated those lessons learned into the University’s and the City of DeKalb’s emergency response plans.
“We as firefighters in this nation continue to witness the positive outcomes of emergency preparation, preplanning, practicing plans and executing the plans when an emergency occurs,” said Acting U.S. Fire Administrator Glenn A. Gaines. “The Dekalb Fire Department demonstrates the fire service commitment to emergency preparedness for all emergencies through the study of lessons learned, and the application and practice of Incident Command and the National Incident Management System (NIMS).”
From every after-action report this potentially devastating situation was handled with the highest levels of skill and expertise. The multiagency cooperation in response in Dekalb was virtually a textbook application of Unified Command and the NIMS. The key element contributing to the success of operations was NIU had a very well-defined plan that was exercised routinely. University and local first response leadership made a commitment to prepare and train for such an event following the 2007 Virgina Tech shooting.
+ Full Report (PDF; 1.8 MB)
Fatal (Fiscal) Attraction: Spendthrifts and Tightwads in Marriage (PDF; 242 KB)
Source: Scott Rick and Deborah Small from the University of Pennsylvania, and Eli Finkel from Northwestern University (working paper)
Unmarried people believe they would be happiest with mates with similar emotional reactions toward spending. They appear to be correct. Unfortunately, consistent with the logic of Klohnen and Mendelsohn (1998), people tend to be attracted to mates withopposing emotional reactions toward spending.The marriages that result appear to make tightwads and spendthrifts about as happy as the Hoarders and Wasters in Dante’s Inferno.
Hat tip: PW
