Summary of FY 2015 Budget and Governor's Recommendations, January 16, 2014

The purpose of this document is to provide the General Assembly with information related to FY General Fund estimated receipts and the Governor’s recommendations. This information provides an overall summary of the State budget and is intended to help the General Assembly take a proactive approach toward the budgeting process.

Summary of FY 2016 Budget and Governor's Recommendations, January 15, 2015

The purpose of this document is to provide the General Assembly with information related to FY General Fund estimated receipts and the Governor’s recommendations. This information provides an overall summary of the State budget and is intended to help the General Assembly take a proactive approach toward the budgeting process.

Learning form Nature to improve the heat generation of iron-oxide nanoparticles for magnetic hyperthermia applications.

The performance of magnetic nanoparticles is intimately entwined with their structure, mean size and magnetic anisotropy. Besides, ensembles offer a unique way of engineering the magnetic response by modifying the strength of the dipolar interactions between particles. Here we report on an experimental and theoretical analysis of magnetic hyperthermia, a rapidly developing technique in medical research and oncology. Experimentally, we demonstrate that single-domain cubic iron oxide particles resembling bacterial magnetosomes have superior magnetic heating efficiency compared to spherical particles of similar sizes. Monte Carlo simulations at the atomic level corroborate the larger anisotropy of the cubic particles in comparison with the spherical ones, thus evidencing the beneficial role of surface anisotropy in the improved heating power. Moreover we establish a quantitative link between the particle assembling, the interactions and the heating properties. This knowledge opens new perspectives for improved hyperthermia, an alternative to conventional cancer therapies.

Issue review : fiscal year 2011 general fund budget projection.

This issue review provides an overall summary of Iowa's general fund budget. This issue review provides projections for the 2010 fiscal year and fiscal year 2011 budgets based on the October 7, 2009 revenue estimating conference's (REC) revenue estimate. The projection also includes the impact of the Governor's 10 percent across-the-board reduction to fiscal year 2010 general fund appropriations, and the Legislative Services Agency's most recent estimates of built-in and anticipated expenditures for fiscal year 2011.

Issue review : fiscal year 2011 Judicial Branch budget impact.

This issue review analyzes recent activity related to the Judicial Branch budget. The Judicial Branch budget is 3 percent of the total state general fund budget and consists of 95 percent personnel costs and 5 percent non-personnel costs. As of August 31, 2010, 29 clerks-of-court offices are operating on a part-time basis with reduced public hours. The remaining 70 offices are closed for two hours a day, two days a week. From February 2009 through June 2010, there were 15 court closure days.

Issue review : state prison system budget.

This issue review examines the prison system fiscal year 2010 budget, including receipts and expenditures, average annual costs, personnel and inmate assaults.

Issue review : Federal Budget Control Act of 2011.

This issue review provides an overview and update on the sequester provision of the Federal Budget Control Act of 2011.

Membrane lipid composition affects plant heat sensing and modulates Ca ( 2+) -dependent heat shock response.

Understanding how plants sense and respond to heat stress is central to improve crop tolerance and productivity. Recent findings in Physcomitrella patensdemonstrated that the controlled passage of calcium ions across the plasma membrane regulates the heat shock response (HSR). To investigate the effect of membrane lipid composition on the plant HSR, we acclimated P. patens to a slightly elevated yet physiological growth temperature and analysed the signature of calcium influx under a mild heat shock. Compared to tissues grown at 22°C, tissues grown at 32°C had significantly higher overall membrane lipid saturation level and, when submitted to a short heat shock at 35°C, displayed a noticeably reduced calcium influx and a consequent reduced heat shock gene expression. These results show that temperature differences, rather than the absolute temperature, determine the extent of the plant HSR and indicate that membrane lipid composition regulates the calcium-dependent heat-signaling pathway.

Certified Budget Report FY 2011, April 20, 2010

The Department of Education, Division of Community Colleges and Workforce Preparation staff annually prepares a Community College Certified Budget Report. This report provides information to assist the State Board of Education.

Certified Budget Report FY 2013, April 25, 2012

The Department of Education, Division of Community Colleges, annually prepares a Community College Certified Budget Report. This report provides information to assist the State Board of Education members in their role.

Certified Budget Report FY 2014, May 19, 2014

The Department of Education, Division of Community Colleges, annually prepares a Community College Certified Budget Report. This report provides information to assist the State Board of Education members in their role.

Certified Budget Report FY 2015, May 15, 2014

The Department of Education, Division of Community Colleges, annually prepares a Community College Certified Budget Report. This report provides information to assist the State Board of Education members in their role.

Certified Budget Report FY 2016, June 4, 2015

The Certified Budget Report is prepared annually by each community college. Each college has specific steps that it follows in order to prepare this report and to submit it to the controlling county auditor by March 15 of each year. In January, the valuation reports are available from the county auditors to use as a basis for tax revenue estimates. In preparing the Certified Budget Report, historical year numbers are verified, current year numbers are re-estimated, and the next fiscal year numbers are estimated. Once the Certified Budget Report is prepared, it is filed with the community college board. After filing with the community college board, a public hearing is set. The date for the public hearing must be published no sooner than 20 days before the hearing and no later than 10 days before the hearing. At that public hearing, any comments from the public are heard and the board votes to accept the budget. If adopted by the board, the budget is filed with the controlling county auditor.

Certified Budget Report FY 2012, April 20, 2011

The Department of Education, Division of Community Colleges and Workforce Preparation staff annually prepares a Community College Certified Budget Report. This report provides information to assist the State Board of Education.

A Thermokinetic approach to radiative heat transfer at the nanoscale

Radiative heat exchange at the nanoscale presents a challenge for several areas due to its scope and nature. Here, we provide a thermokinetic description of microscale radiative energy transfer including phonon-photon coupling manifested through a non-Debye relaxation behavior. We show that a lognormal-like distribution of modes of relaxation accounts for this non-Debye relaxation behavior leading to the thermal conductance. We also discuss the validity of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. The general expression for the thermal conductance we obtain fits existing experimental results with remarkable accuracy. Accordingly, our approach offers an overall explanation of radiative energy transfer through micrometric gaps regardless of geometrical configurations and distances.