Tag Archives: california

Uncollected Internet Sales Taxes Cost Missouri $468 Million Annually, MU Study Shows

By Guest PostMay 1, 2012Economy, TechnologyAmazon, brad fischer, business, california, congress, david valentine, e-commerce, internet, internet transaction, lobby, missouri, missouri legislator, online retailer, revenue, roy blunt, sales, sales tax, supreme court, university of missouri, us sales, wal-mart

MU researchers recommend legislative action to help local economy, state revenue

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Internet, or e-commerce, sales have increased over the past two decades, comprising nearly 17 percent of the total U.S. sales in 2009. However, many states, including Missouri, have no effective means of collecting taxes on those sales. Researchers at the University of Missouri Truman School of Public Affairs found that the state lost approximately $468 million annually in sales tax revenue during the past decade.

Federal law and U.S. Supreme Court rulings only allow states to levy sales taxes on a business with a physical presence in the state. For example, Amazon.com does not charge sales tax in Missouri because it is physically located in California. However, Wal-Mart charges sales tax, since it has stores in Missouri. In the study, researchers analyzed historical data on e-commerce activity and estimated that the state will miss out on $1.4 billion in potential revenue from 2011 to 2014. (more…)

Tablet Competition Heats Up: Kindle Fire Captures more than Half of Android Tablet Market

By Guest PostApril 26, 2012Technologyacer picasso, amazon kindle, android tablet, apple ipad, california, Comscore, content, dell streak, device essentials product, digital device, florida, galaxy tab, illinois, internet traffic pattern, kindle fire, market, motorola xoom, non wifi traffic, serge matta, smartphone, tablets, texas, toshiba at100, udm data, us market, usage, verizon, web page

10″ Tablets Have 39 Percent Higher Content Consumption Rate than 7″ Tablets

comScore Device Essentials™ Introduces Unique Device and Local Market Reporting to Cross-Device Digital Traffic Measurement

RESTON, VA, April 26, 2012 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today announced the next generation of its Device Essentials™ service, offering new insight into global digital device usage. Based on comScore’s global Unified Digital Measurement (UDM) data, which utilizes census-level information from tagged web page content, Device Essentials includes reporting of brand and operating system for digital device and Internet traffic patterns (i.e. page views) from computers, smartphones, tablets, music, players, e-readers and gaming devices.

“comScore is excited to introduce our next generation Device Essentials product, which provides new insight into digital device usage and detailed reporting of traffic patterns within local markets,” said Serge Matta, comScore president of mobile & operator solutions. “These new insights are invaluable to all stakeholders in the mobile ecosystem as they seek to provide valuable services and optimize the mobile media experience for their customers.” (more…)

NASA Tests GPS Monitoring System for Big U.S. Quakes

By Guest PostApril 25, 2012Environment2004 sumatra quake, california, craig dobson, earthquake, frank webb, geoffrey blewitt, gps, gps data, hazard monitoring, la jolla, location, magnitude, NASA, natural hazard, oregon, pacific, readi, reno, ring of fire, seismological instrument, space based technology, timothy melbourne, tsunami warning, university of nevada, usgs, Washington, western united states, yehuda bock

PASADENA, Calif. – The space-based technology that lets GPS-equipped motorists constantly update their precise location will undergo a major test of its ability to rapidly pinpoint the location and magnitude of strong earthquakes across the western United States. Results from the new Real-time Earthquake Analysis for Disaster (READI) Mitigation Network soon could be used to assist prompt disaster response and more accurate tsunami warnings.

The new research network builds on decades of technology development supported by the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The network uses real-time GPS measurements from nearly 500 stations throughout California, Oregon and Washington. When a large earthquake is detected, GPS data are used to automatically calculate its vital characteristics, including location, magnitude and details about the fault rupture. (more…)

Safe Sleep Environments Key to Preventing Many Infant Deaths, MU Researcher Says

By Guest PostApril 20, 2012Healthback to sleep, california, campaign, delaware, hawaii, heather dykstra, infant, injury prevention, michigan, nevada, ohio, patricia schnitzer, Pennsylvania, sids, sleep environment, soft bedding, suids, tennessee, texas, theresa covington, united states, university of missouri

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Since 1992, the government’s Back-to-Sleep Campaign has encouraged parents to place infants on their backs to sleep. Still, more than 4,500 infants die unexpectedly during sleep each year in the United States. Now, a University of Missouri injury prevention researcher says that safe, separate sleep environments for infants are critical to preventing sudden unexpected infant deaths (SUIDs).

“Many of these SUIDs are due to unsafe sleep environments, and these deaths are totally preventable,” said Patricia Schnitzer, an associate professor in the MU Sinclair School of Nursing. “The safest place for infants to sleep is on their backs in their own cribs without soft bedding.” (more…)

Which Plants Will Survive Droughts, Climate Change?

By Guest PostApril 9, 2012Environmentagaves, alahee, cacti, california, carbon dioxide, cell level loss, chaparral shrubs, China, christine scoffoni, climate change, desert plants, drought tolerance, ecosystems, extinction, faith inman narahari, hawaiian drought, lawren sack, megan bartlett, photosynthesis, plant species, psydrax odorata, sandalwood, santalum paniculatum, stiff cell wall, stomata, sunflower, tropical botanical gardens, turgor loss point, turgor pressure, xishuangbanna, yuccas, yunnan

New research by UCLA life scientists could lead to predictions of which plant species will escape extinction from climate change.

Droughts are worsening around the world, posing a great challenge to plants in all ecosystems, said Lawren Sack, a UCLA professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and senior author of the research. Scientists have debated for more than a century how to predict which species are most vulnerable.

Sack and two members of his laboratory have made a fundamental discovery that resolves this debate and allows for the prediction of how diverse plant species and vegetation types worldwide will tolerate drought, which is critical given the threats posed by climate change, he said. (more…)

Rising Seas Put Millions of Americans at Risk for Flooding

By Guest PostMarch 16, 2012Environmentamericans, atlantic seaboard, benjamin h strauss, california, canal region, coastal elevation, flooding, florida, gulf of mexico, jeremy l weiss, jonathan t overpeck, long beach, los angeles, louisiana, maryland, mission beach, new jersey, new york, remik ziemlinski, rising seas, san diego, sea level, university of arizona, us coastal region, venice

New estimates suggest more U.S. land prone to flooding than previously thought.

About 3.7 million Americans are at risk for flooding as the sea level continues to rise in the coming century, according to a new study from a team that includes University of Arizona researchers.

Areas on the south Atlantic Seaboard and surrounding the Gulf of Mexico appear to be most prone to future flooding. In terms of numbers of people at risk, Florida is the most vulnerable, closely followed by Louisiana, California, New York and New Jersey. (more…)

Number of Dead California Sea Otters Recovered in 2011 a Record High

By Guest PostFebruary 25, 2012Natureattacks by sharks, bacterial infections, boat strikes, brian hatfield, california, california coast, california sea otter, carcharodon carcharias, cayucos, enhydra lutris nereis, extinction, gun shot wounds, harmful algal toxins, heart disease, infectious diseases, lilian carswell, marcia mcnutt, michael harris, monterey bay aquarium, population growth, population mortality, sea lions, sea otter, seals, shark bites, southern sea otter, strandings, tim tinker, tooth fragments, u s geological survey, white sharks

*Evidence Builds for White Shark Factor in Otter Mortality*

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — The California or southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis) appears to be experiencing an unprecedented increase in mortality from attacks by sharks, according to federal and state scientists.

Since 1968, biologists and veterinarians at the U.S. Geological Survey and California Department of Fish and Game have documented and examined all reported sea otter “strandings” — counting the number of dead, sick or injured sea otters recovered along California’s coast each year. (more…)

UCLA Study Finds U.S. Has More Elected, Appointed Asian American Officials Than Ever

By Guest PostDecember 10, 2011Politicsasian american, asian american politics, asian pacific americans, california, david k yoo, don nakanishi, hawaii, irvine, james lai, new york, oakland, pacific islander, political almanac, political process, political trends, politicians, public office, san francisco, state governors, texas, united states, us history, voters

More Asian Pacific Americans hold public office in the United States than at any other time in U.S. history, a sign of the community’s growing engagement with the political process, according to a newly released political almanac published by UCLA’s Asian American Studies Center.

The 14th edition of the National Asian Pacific American Political Almanac, first published in 1976, contains information on all 3,000 current elected and appointed officials. It also analyzes political trends and makes electoral projections of the nation’s 17 million Asian Pacific Americans. (more…)