The impact of the capital crisis of the fall of 1998 on construction lending

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1999.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 50-51).Over the last three years, the public debt markets in the real estate sector have a grown at a rapid rate. As of June 1998, the Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities (CMBS) market was providing the majority of take-out financing for construction loans for commercial real estate. This dramatically changed in July 1998, when Russia defaulted on it's government debt and investors withdrew their money from high-yield, high-risk investments in favor of safer investments. This "flight to quality" caused lending within the public real estate capital markets to come to a virtual standstill. While macro-economic turmoil was the catalyst of the capital crisis, it brought fears regarding underwriting practices to the surface. The purpose of this paper is to briefly discuss the causes of the capital crisis of 1998 and to analyze its impact on underwriting standards for construction loans. The primary method of research for this paper, a survey of national construction lenders, was designed to provide a snapshot of underwriting standards prior to the capital crisis, at the height of the crisis, and today. These underwriting standards are contrasted against both property market fundamentals and development activity at these various times. The results of the survey confirm that there was a dislocation between the public capital markets and property market fundamentals. While public capital markets are perceived to increase real estate market efficiency in the long term, there is a cost associated with the presence of the capital markets, namely increased volatility in the short term. As macroeconomic shocks occur to the capital markets, property markets will be similarly affected. As evidenced by the capital crunch of August 1998, the role of construction lenders has become more dynamic. Henceforth, construction lenders will have to quickly adjust underwriting standards to reflect the ever-changing risk characteristics present in the capital markets. The question remains: Will the long-term efficiencies gained by the presence of the public markets outweigh the short-term cost of increase volatility? The answer will largely depend on the ability of construction lenders to monitor the capital markets and price loans accordingly.by Steven P. Garuti and Benjamin A.C. Goodsir.S.M

Arsenotučekite, Ni 18 Sb 3 AsS 16 , a new mineral from the Tsangli chromitites, Othrys ophiolite, Greece

AbstractArsenotučekite, Ni18Sb3AsS16, is a new mineral discovered in the abandoned chromium mine of Tsangli, located in the eastern portion of the Othrys ophiolite complex, central Greece. Tsangli is one of the largest chromite deposit at which chromite was mined since 1870. The Tsangli chromitite occurs as lenticular and irregular bodies. The studied chromitites are hosted in a strongly serpentinized mantle peridotite. Arsenotučekite forms anhedral to subhedral grains that vary in size between 5 μm up to 100 μm, and occurs as single phase grains or is associated with pentlandite, breithauptite, gersdorffite and chlorite. It is brittle and has a metallic luster. In plane-polarized light, it is creamy-yellow, the bireflectance is barely perceptible and the pleochroism is weak. In crossed polarized reflected light, the anisotropic rotation tints vary from pale blue to brown. Internal reflections were not observed. Reflectance values of arsenotučekite in air (Ro, Re′ in %) are: 41.8–46.4 at 470 nm, 47.2–50.6 at 546 nm, 49.4–52.3 at 589 nm, and 51.3–53.2 at 650 nm. The empirical formula of arsenotučekite, based on 38 atoms per formula unit, and according to the structural results, is (Ni16.19Co1.01Fe0.83)Σ18.03Sb3(As0.67Sb0.32)Σ0.99S15.98. The mass density is 6.477 g·cm−3. The simplified chemical formula is (Ni,Co,Fe)18Sb3(As,Sb)S16. The mineral is tetragonal and belongs to space group I4/mmm, with a = 9.7856(3) Å, c = 10.7582(6) Å, V = 1030.2(6) Å3 and Z = 2. The structure is layered (stacking along the c-axis) and is dominated by three different Ni-coordination polyhedral, one octahedral and two cubic. The arsenotučekite structure can be considered as a superstructure of tučekite resulting from the ordering of Sb and As. The name of the new mineral species indicates the As-dominant of tučekite. Arsenotučekite occurs as rims partly replacing pentlandite and irregularly developed grains. Furthermore, it is locally associated with chlorite. These observations suggest that it was likely precipitated at relatively low temperatures during: 1) the late hydrothermal stages of the ore-forming process by reaction of Sb- and As-bearing solutions with magmatic sulfides such as pentlandite, or 2) during the serpentinization of the host peridotite. The mineral and its name have been approved by the Commission of New Minerals, Nomenclature, and Classification of the International Mineralogical Association (number 2019–135)

Chromite and platinum group elements mineralization in the Santa Elena Ultramafic Nappe (Costa Rica): geodynamic implications

Chromitites associated with strongly altered peridotite from six distinct localities in the Santa Elena ultramafic nappe (Costa Rica) have been investigated for the first time. Santa Elena chromitites commonly display a compositional variation from extremely chromiferous (Cr/(Cr+Al)=0.81) to intermediate and aluminous (Cr/(Cr+Al)=0.54). This composition varies along a continuous trend, corresponding to calculated parental liquids which may have been derived from the differentiation of a single batch of boninitic magma with Cr-rich and (Al, Ti)-poor initial composition. Fractional precipitation of chromite probably occurred during differentiation of the boninitic melt and progressive metasomatic reaction with mantle peridotite. The distribution of platinum group elements (PGE) displays the high (Os+Ir+Ru)/(Rh+Pt+Pd) ratio typical of ophiolitic chromitites and, consistently, the platinum group minerals (PGM) encountered are mainly Ru-Os-Ir sulfides and arsenides. Textural relations of most of the platinum group elements suggest crystallization at magmatic temperatures, possibly under relatively high sulfur fugacity as indicated by the apparent lack of primary Os-Ir-Ru alloys. The chemical and mineralogical characteristics of chromitites from the Santa Elena ultramafic nappe have a strong affinity to podiform chromitites in the mantle section of supra-subduction-zone ophiolites. Calculated parental melts of the chromitites are consistent with the differentiation of arc-related magmas, and do not support the oceanic spreading center geodynamic setting previously proposed by some authors

Thalhammerite, Pd9Ag2Bi2S4, a New Mineral from the Talnakh and Oktyabrsk Deposits, Noril'sk Region, Russia

This is an Open Access publicatiomThe file attached is the Published/publisher’s pdf version of the article

1-(4-Bromo­phen­yl)-2-(phenyl­sulfon­yl)ethanone

The overall conformation of the title mol­ecule, C14H11BrO3S, is L-shaped, as seen in the value of the dihedral angle formed between the terminal benzene rings of 75.44 (13)°. The presence of C—H⋯O inter­actions leads to the formation of linear supra­molecular chains along the a-axis direction in the crystal structure. These are connected into supra­molecular arrays in the ab plane via C—H⋯π contacts

Environmental and occupational risk factors for early onset dementia in an Italian community

Background: Early onset dementia (EOD) is defined as dementia with symptoms onset before 65 years. Little is known about the etiological role of environmental and occupational risk factors. We aimed at assessing the role of these factors in disease etiology.Methods: Using a case-control design, we recruited all EOD cases resident in Modena province from October, 2016 to October, 2019, as well as a referent population drawn from patients’ care-givers. We investigated residential history of study participants, and their occupational and environmental exposures to pesticides, solvents and metals through a self-administered questionnaire. We computed the odds ratios (ORs) of disease risk, and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs), according to exposure to the investigated risk factors, using an unconditional logistic regression model adjusted for sex, age, and education. Results: Fifty-eight EOD cases and fifty-four controls agreed to participate. Among occupational factors, disease risk was associated with exposure to aluminum (OR 2.6, 95% CI 0.4-15.7), pesticides (OR 2.3, 95% CI 0.7-7.8) particularly from agricultural occupational exposure (OR 3.1, 95% CI 0.7-13.3) and dyes, paints or thinners (OR 1.7, 95% CI 0.6-5.0). Among lifestyles factors, smoking (OR 1.3, 95% CI 0.6-2.9) and playing football (OR 2.2, 95% CI 0.5-9.3) or cycling (OR 2.3, 95% CI 0.4-13.4) were associated with higher EOD risk, although overall sports practice appeared to be protective factor (OR 0.4, 95% CI 0.2-0.9). Risk was also positively associated with history of head trauma (OR 1.2, 95% CI 0.3-4.1) and particularly upper arm trauma (OR 2.2, 95% CI 0.7-7.5), but not overall trauma. No association emerged for exposure to electromagnetic fields. Conclusions:Despite the study limitations, our results appear to support a role of environmental risk factors in EOD etiology, particularly of some chemical exposures and professional sports, while overall sports practice may have a beneficial effect

Environmental Risk Factors for Early-Onset Alzheimer's Dementia and Frontotemporal Dementia: A Case-Control Study in Northern Italy

Background: Early-onset dementia (EOD) is defined as dementia with symptom onset before 65 years. The role of environmental risk factors in the etiology of EOD is still undefined. We aimed at assessing the role of environmental risk factors in EOD etiology, taking into account its different clinical types. Methods: Using a case-control study, we recruited all EOD cases referred to Modena hospitals from 2016 to 2019, while the referent population was drawn from cases' caregivers. We investigated residential history, occupational and environmental exposures to chemicals and lifestyle behaviors through a self-administered questionnaire. We computed the odds ratios of EOD risk (overall and restricting to the Alzheimer's dementia (AD) or frontotemporal dementia (FTD) diagnoses) and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals using an unconditional logistic regression model. Results: Fifty-eight EOD patients (19 FTD and 32 AD) and 54 controls agreed to participate. Most of the investigated exposures, such as occupational exposure to aluminum, pesticides, dyes, paints or thinners, were associated with an increased odds ratio (OR) for FTD but not for AD. Long-term use of selenium-containing dietary supplements was associated with increased OR for EOD and, particularly, for FTD. For both EOD forms, smoking and playing football showed an increased odds ratio, while cycling was associated with increased risk only in FTD. Overall sports practice appeared to be a protective factor for both types. Conclusions: Our results suggest a role of environmental and behavioral risk factors such as some chemical exposures and professional sports in EOD etiology, in particular with reference to FTD. Overall sports practice may be associated with a reduced EOD risk

Plasma Cell-Free DNA Integrity Assessed by Automated Electrophoresis Predicts the Achievement of Pathologic Complete Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Patients with Breast Cancer

PURPOSE The study of plasma cell-free DNA integrity (cfDI) has shown potential for providing useful information in neoplastic patients. The aim of this study is to estimate the accuracy of an electrophoresis-based method for cfDI evaluation in the assessment of pathologic complete response (pCR) in patients with breast cancer (BC) undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT). PATIENTS AND METHODS Fifty-one patients with BC undergoing anthracycline-/taxane-based NACT were recruited. Plasma samples were collected from each patient at diagnosis (t0), after anthracycline administration (t1), and after NACT completion (t2). The concentration of differently sized cell-free DNA fragments was assessed by automated electrophoresis. cfDI, expressed as cfDI index, was calculated as the ratio of 321-1,000 bp sized fragment concentration to 150-220 bp sized fragment concentration assessed at t2. cfDI index was then used to build an exploratory classifier for BC response to NACT, directly comparing its sensitivity and specificity with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), through bootstrapped logistic regression. RESULTS cfDI index was assessed on 38 plasma samples collected from as many patients at t2, maintaining a 30/70 ratio between pCR and non-pCR patients. cfDI index showed an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve in predicting the achievement of pCR of 81.6, with a cutoff above 2.71 showing sensitivity = 81.8 and specificity = 81.5. The combination of cfDI index and MRI showed, in case of concordance, an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 92.6 with a predictive value of complete response of 87.5 and a predictive value of absence of complete response of 94.7. CONCLUSION cfDI index measured after NACT completion shows great potential in the assessment of pCR in patients with BC. The evaluation of its use in combination with MRI is strongly warranted in prospective studies