Isolation in the South: Poverty and Transportation Infrastructure in the Black Belt

This study examines the relationship between transportation infrastructure and social well-being in the United States South, especially in the Black Belt. Specifically, this study focuses on the impact of airport accessibility and improvements on social well-being within the community capital framework in which built capital and political capital acted as a foundational basis for the broader concept of positive community capital. The results indicated that many cumulative disadvantages exist in the Black Belt of the southern United States. The research found that a higher level of airport accessibility is associated with a lower level of poverty and higher levels of health outcomes and net migration. The research further found that having a college and university in a community is associated with higher high school graduation rates, lower poverty rates, and lower unemployment rates. This research has important implications for addressing the cumulative disadvantages and isolation in the Black Belt

Isolation in the South: Poverty and Transportation Infrastructure in the Black Belt

This study examines the relationship between transportation infrastructure and social well-being in the United States South, especially in the Black Belt. Specifically, this study focuses on the impact of airport accessibility and improvements on social well-being within the community capital framework in which built capital and political capital acted as a foundational basis for the broader concept of positive community capital. The results indicated that many cumulative disadvantages exist in the Black Belt of the southern United States. The research found that a higher level of airport accessibility is associated with a lower level of poverty and higher levels of health outcomes and net migration. The research further found that having a college and university in a community is associated with higher high school graduation rates, lower poverty rates, and lower unemployment rates. This research has important implications for addressing the cumulative disadvantages and isolation in the Black Belt

Robust Electromyography Based Control of Multifunctional Prostheses of The Upper Extremity

Multifunctional, highly dexterous and complex mechanic hand prostheses are emerging and currently entering the market. However, the bottleneck to fully exploiting all capabilities of these mechatronic devices, and to making all available functions controllable reliably and intuitively by the users, remains a considerable challenge. The robustness of scientific methods proposed to overcome this barrier is a crucial factor for their future commercial success. Therefore, in this thesis the matter of robust, multifunctional and dexterous control of prostheses of the upper limb was addressed and some significant advancements in the scientific field were aspired. To this end, several investigations grouped in four studies were conducted, all with the same focus on understanding mechanisms that influence the robustness of myoelectric control and resolving their deteriorating effects. For the first study, a thorough literature review of the field was conducted and it was revealed that many non-stationarities, which could be expected to affect the reliability of surface EMG pattern recognition myoprosthesis control, had been identified and studied previously. However, one significant factor had not been addressed to a sufficient extent: the effect of long-term usage and day-to-day testing. Therefore, a dedicated study was designed and carried out, in order to address the previously unanswered question of how reliable surface electromyography pattern recognition was across days. Eleven subjects, involving both able-bodied and amputees, participated in this study over the course of 5 days, and a pattern recognition system was tested without daily retraining. As the main result of this study, it was revealed that the time between training and testing a classifier was indeed a very relevant factor influencing the classification accuracy. More estimation errors were observed as more time lay between the classifier training and testing. With the insights obtained from the first study, the need for compensating signal non-stationarities was identified. Hence, in a second study, building up on the data obtained from the first investigation, a self-correction mechanism was elaborated. The goal of this approach was to increase the systems robustness towards non-stationarities such as those identified in the first study. The system was capable of detecting and correcting its own mistakes, yielding a better estimation of movements than the uncorrected classification or other, previously proposed strategies for error removal. In the third part of this thesis, the previously investigated ideas for error suppression for increased robustness of a classification based system were extended to regression based movement estimation. While the same method as tested in the second study was not directly applicable to regression, the same underlying idea was used for developing a novel proportional estimator. It was validated in online tests, with the control of physical prostheses by able-bodied and transradial amputee subjects. The proposed method, based on common spatial patterns, outperformed two state-of-the art control methods, demonstrating the benefit of increased robustness in movement estimation during applied tasks. The results showed the superior performance of robust movement estimation in real life investigations, which would have hardly been observable in offline or abstract cursor control tests, underlining the importance of tests with physical prostheses. In the last part of this work, the limitation of sequential movements of the previously explored system was addressed and a methodology for enhancing the system with simultaneous and proportional control was developed. As a result of these efforts, a system robust, natural and fluent in its movements was conceived. Again, online control tests of physical prostheses were performed by able-bodied and amputee subjects, and the novel system proved to outperform the sequential controller of the third study of this thesis, yielding the best control technique tested. An extensive set of tests was conducted with both able-bodied and amputee subjects, in scenarios close to clinical routine. Custom prosthetic sockets were manufactured for all subjects, allowing for experimental control of multifunction prostheses with advanced machine learning based algorithms in real-life scenarios. The tests involved grasping and manipulating objects, in ways as they are often encountered in everyday living. Similar investigations had not been conducted before. One of the main conclusions of this thesis was that the suppression of wrong prosthetic motions was a key factor for robust prosthesis control and that simultaneous wrist control was a beneficial asset especially for experienced users. As a result of all investigations performed, clinically relevant conclusions were drawn from these tests, maximizing the impact of the developed systems on potential future commercialization of the newly conceived control methods. This was emphasized by the close collaboration with Otto Bock as an industrial partner of the AMYO project and hence this work.2016-02-2

Durham, New Hampshire. Annual report, 1970.

This is an annual report containing vital statistics for a town/city in the state of New Hampshire

Durham, New Hampshire. Annual report, 1970.

This is an annual report containing vital statistics for a town/city in the state of New Hampshire

An analysis of rural home mortgage credit suppliers

Inadequate housing in rural areas of Tennessee has been a problem for many years. Increases in the quantity and quality of housing must be preceded by increases in the availability and volume of mortgage credit. These increases must be accomplished through firms operating in rural areas. The purpose of this study was to: (1) identify residential credit suppliers in non-SMSA counties in Tennessee; (2) determine the status of the rural home mortgage credit system by examining the relation-ship between the volume of total assets, as a measure of size, of primary credit institutions and selected economic structural variables; and (3) develop alternative delivery systems to facilitate the flow of home mortgage credit from lenders to borrowers in rural areas. Data were obtained by survey and from year-end financial reports of commercial banks and savings and loan associations in rural areas. Although all of the non-SMSA banks and S&L\u27s were surveyed, 85 (35 per cent) of the banks and 23 (46 percent) of the S&L\u27s responded. Year-end financial reports for all non-SMSA banks and S&L\u27s were obtained from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, respectively. In terms of number, total assets, and volume of mortgage credit, banks were the dominant rural credit supplier in non-SMSA counties in Tennessee. S&L\u27s were second. Other institutions such as the Federal Land Banks, Production Credit Associations, Tennessee Housing Development Agency, Federal Home Loan Bank Board, Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corpora-tion, and others were also represented. In general, bank lenders tended to report more conservative atti-tudes than S&L lenders, with respect to loan policies concerning alterna-tive residential mortgage loans. S&L lenders appeared to be more involved with extending home mortgage credit than banks. S&L\u27s had a much higher portion of their assets invested in home mortgages than banks. S&L\u27s had the capability of extending conventional mortgage home loans with relatively longer terms. Although 240 (69 percent) of the 344 Tennessee banks were in non- SMSA counties, these banks only accounted for 47 percent of the bank assets. Similarly, 52 (54 percent) of the 96 Tennessee S&L\u27s were in non-SMSA counties and controlled only 21 percent of the S&L assets. Total assets were not determined to be significantly related to selected structural variables for banks or S&L\u27s in 1979. Therefore, the size was not indicative of the proportion of total assets a bank had invested in home mortgage loans, demanded deposits, savings, or time deposits. As for S&L\u27s, size was not related to the proportion of total assets invested in conventional loans or savings. The usual interest charged on conventional loans, usual repayment period allowed on conven-tional loans, usual percentage of purchase price required as down payment on conventional loans, average closing cost, and escrow were also unre-lated to the size of either banks or S&L\u27s. The study concludes that commercial banks and S&L\u27s were the major component in the home mortgage credit system in non-SMSA areas in Tennessee in 1979. Of these two components, banks were considerably more available to residents in non-SMSA counties; however, S&L\u27s appeared to be more willing to make alternative types of loans and loans for various types of housing. The percentage of assets loaned for home mortgages was relatively the same for the different size banks and S&L\u27s respectively. Unique marketing efforts designed specifically for rural residents could yield benefits for both lenders and borrowers. Simplifying lending procedures, program orientation for lending personnel, employing basic public relations techniques, and, in general, more effective and effi-cient lending could reduce processing time and effort. Thereby, public and private lending programs could be streamlined, reducing the time and cost of loans made to borrowers