Paying More for the American Dream IV: The Decline of Prime Mortgage Lending in Communities of Color

The financial crisis has led to significantly reduced access to mortgage credit for all borrowers and communities. In neighborhoods of color, however, where the foreclosure crisis has taken an especially severe toll, access to prime, conventional mortgage loans has declined precipitously -- to a much greater degree than in predominantly white neighborhoods. Families living in neighborhoods of color disproportionately lack access to affordable loans needed to purchase or improve their homes or to refinance their mortgage to secure a lower monthly payment. As this lack of access and the ongoing foreclosure crisis wreak havoc on communities of color, neighborhood rehabilitation efforts, includingsustainable loan modifications, are desperately needed to help families avert foreclosure and stay in their homes, and to prevent further destabilization of neighborhoods.This report focuses on changes in lending patterns in seven key metropolitan areas: Boston, MA; Charlotte, NC; Chicago, IL; Cleveland, OH; Los Angeles, CA; New York, NY; and Rochester, NY. It examines changes in the levels of prime, conventional home purchase and refinance mortgage lending in predominantly white communities and communities of color between 2006, the beginning of the foreclosure crisis, and 2008, the most recent year for which national mortgage lending data are available.The report also examines lending patterns for the four largest bank holding companies: Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo. Finally, the report includes recommendations for federal policy reforms that would require financial institutions to issue credit responsibly and protect all communities, particularly communities of color, from abusive lending practices

Many-Body Physics in an Optical Lattice Clock

In this work we study the effect of interactions in an optical lattice clock based on fermionic Sr atoms. In current one-dimensional lattice clocks nuclear spin-polarized atoms are known to have contact interactions of p-wave character and collective in nature. Here we focus on interactions that will influence the design of future optical lattice clocks. We study the case where atoms are no longer confined to a single nuclear spin state. By using samples of atoms with different distributions among the ten nuclear spin states of Sr we show that these interactions are SU(N) symmetric up to a 3% uncertainty in our measurements. Through these measurements we are also able to determine all the s-wave and p-wave scattering lengths. We also study the case of nuclear spin-polarized interacting atoms that are allowed to tunnel between different lattice sites where the electronic spin and the motion of these atoms become coupled. We observe spectroscopically the precession of the collective magnetization and evolution of spin locking effects arising from the interplay between p-wave interactions and interactions induced by the spin-orbit coupling. The many-body dynamics are captured by a spin model that describes a broad class of condensed matter systems ranging from superconductors to quantum magnets. By loading a dense sample of atoms into a magneto-optical trap we are able to observe long-range dipole-dipole interactions between our Sr atoms. These interactions will be important for atomic clocks based on a three dimensional lattice, such as the one recently demonstrated in our lab. In these clocks it is possible to remove the contact interactions between the atoms by loading only one atom per lattice site. In this case the dominant interactions will be from the long-range dipole-dipole interactions that will take place between the atoms

Evolution and inheritance of Cascadia sub-arc mantle reservoirs

Inheritance from pre-existing mantle domains and fluid and melt contributions from active subduction together produce the geochemical signatures of mantle-derived arc basalts. In this context, this work evaluates the evolution of Cascadia mantle sources by documenting the isotopic and compositional characteristics of primitive basalts along a transect across the Eocene-Oligocene Proto-Cascadia (EOPC) arc at ~44.5-45.5° N. Primitive EOPC flows, dikes, and sills are exposed across a ~300 km transect that includes the Oregon Coast Range in the Cascadia forearc, the Western Cascades, flanking the modern arc, and the John Day and Eastern Clarno formations east of the Cascades. Like the modern arc, EOPC was built upon accreted terranes of western North America and within the Columbia embayment, which is lithosphere of oceanic affinity that crops out as the Siletzia terrane in the forearc and extends beneath the arc to the backarc. Potential mantle source reservoirs for EOPC magmas include contributions from mantle domains related to pre-existing underlying terranes, distinct North America lithosphere, and depleted Pacific-like upper mantle. In addition, the geochemical characteristics of EOPC magmas have likely been overprinted by subduction processes. Major, trace element, and isotopic data from the EOPC reveal a heterogeneous mantle source that was variably influenced by subduction processes. In the forearc, the high field strength (HFSE) enriched basalts of the Oregon Coast Range represent low degree partial melts of a relatively enriched mantle source. Despite this enriched character, there is little evidence in the trace element or isotopic data to suggest that the OCR (Oregon Coast Range) samples have been strongly influenced by either a crustal or subduction component. Their distinctive ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb enrichment (as compared to ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb) distinguishes the forearc magmas from the arc and backarc magmas and also from a hypothetical Cascadia subduction component. Forearc EOPC magmas share a mantle source with the accreted Siletzia terrane, as evidenced by their shared ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb enrichment. At the apparent arc axis, the Western Cascades produced a diversity of primitive magmas that are, for the most part, interpreted to result from higher degrees of partial melting of a less enriched source. Fluid fluxing appears to have facilitated mantle melting beneath the Western Cascades. Additionally, the mantle beneath the arc may be slightly influenced by the ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb enriched source underlying the forearc. Though this effect is difficult to resolve, the Western Cascades samples appear to be slightly more variable in ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb (and generally higher in ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb at a given ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb) than their backarc counterparts, suggesting such an influence. Both trace element and isotopic data suggest a significant subduction contribution to EOPC backarc primitive magmas. The EOPC backarc magmas appear to have originated from a heterogeneous mantle and are variably influenced by a subduction component. Though this subduction influence could be an inherited feature, the affinity between John Day and Eastern Clarno magmas and a modern Cascadia sediment source suggest that this is at least a relatively young feature. Taken together, these results demonstrate the heterogeneity of source and process across the Eocene-Oligocene arc. Apparent subduction contribution increases from the geographic forearc to backarc, perhaps indicating a wider arc than is typically envisioned at the time. The distinct ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb enrichment associated with the Siletzia mantle and apparent in the forearc appears to wane in influence to the east, having at most a minor influence on the Western Cascade arc magmas. As with the Siletzia mantle domain in EOPC arc and backarc, mantle domains associated with the Western Cascades and John Day/Eastern Clarno magmas do not persist in the High Cascades or High Lava Plains. Beneath and behind the arc, mantle reservoirs appear to have been largely replaced since the Eocene-Oligocene. However, the High Lava Plains basalts appear to carry a paleo-enrichment signature that may be an inherited feature from advected mantle. If this enriched mantle was advected from beneath North America, it may explain the observation that High Lava Plains basalts are more enriched to the east

Paying More for the American Dream III: Promoting Responsible Lending to Lower-Income Communities and Communities of Color

This report analyzes 2007 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data and finds that, in low- and moderate-income communities, depositories with CRA obligations originate a far smaller share of higher-cost loans than lenders not subject to CRA. It also finds that lenders covered by CRA are much less likely to make higher-cost loans in communities of color than lenders not covered by CRA

Beyond a boundary – conceptualising and measuring multiple health conditions in the Scottish population

The concurrent experience of multiple health conditions (often termed multimorbidity) has become an important issue in recent years. Most research on this topic uses clinical data (e.g. GP or hospital records) that lack important socio-contextual information about the lives of people with multiple conditions. Population health surveys can help to overcome these limitations, but identifying people who have multiple conditions is problematic. Decisions need to be taken regarding what is meant by a condition, which ones should be included, and how multiple should be defined. These decisions tend to be based on what data are available, rather than on any universal inclusion criteria or theoretical underpinnings. This thesis used an approach informed by sociological theory and principles drawn from critical realist philosophy to estimate the prevalence of multiple conditions among adults (16+) in the general population, using data from the 1998 and 2008- 2011 Scottish Health Surveys. It explicitly acknowledged the multiple, contested and constructed nature of health, illness and diagnosis; the limits of empirical enquiry; and the need to approach concepts such as multiple conditions critically. To support the decision-making process, longitudinal analyses of mortality were used to examine the impact of including various contested conditions on people’s long-term chance of survival (if there was no evidence of impact then the definition was rejected). The final measure of multiple conditions arrived at suggested that 24.9% of adults had multiple conditions (compared with 17.2% using the survey’s original, unadjusted, measure). This measure was then used to explore how this status related to people’s wellbeing, which helped to highlight importance differences in experiences. Among adults with multiple conditions, 33.5% of those in the most deprived areas had low wellbeing compared with 13.5% of those in the least deprived areas. Low wellbeing was also higher among people with multiple conditions aged under 65 than those aged 65 and over, especially for those living in areas of high deprivation. There was some evidence that having multiple conditions and additional vulnerabilities (e.g. psychological distress, living in a deprived area, having activity limitations) before the age of 55 increased people’s risk of mortality, which might result in older populations appearing to have better wellbeing due to less healthy people not reaching old age. Working-age people with multiple conditions were also more likely than people of the same age with no conditions to be economically inactive, to not live in an owner-occupied property, and not have a co-resident partner. All of which suggest that poor health at younger ages limits access to the social and economic norms enjoyed by most people. The approach adopted arguably helped to avoid over-classifying largely healthy people as having multiple conditions, while still ensuring that people’s own perspectives on their health were not under-privileged with respect to more traditional biomedically-focused approaches. However, it was also clear that the experiences of adults with multiple conditions are highly varied, and in particular, socially stratified. This heterogeneity has implications for research in this field, as well as clinical practice and public health policy. Recommendations for better reflecting this diversity in future studies included collecting more measures of functional capacity, aspirations, illness experiences, and social stressors (such as financial insecurity)

A motorized rotation mount for the switching of an optical beam path in under 20 ms using polarization control

We present a simple motorized rotation mount for a half-wave plate that can be used to rapidly change the polarization of light. We use the device to switch a high power laser beam between different optical dipole traps in an ultracold atom experiment. The device uses a stepper motor with a hollow shaft, which allows a beam to propagate along the axis of the motor shaft, minimizing inertia and mechanical complexity. A simple machined adapter is used to mount the wave plate. We characterize the performance of the device, focusing on its capability to switch a beam between the output ports of a polarizing beam splitter cube. We demonstrate a switching time of 15.9(3) ms, limited by the torque of the motor. The mount has a reaction time of 0.52(3) ms and a rotational resolution of 0.45(4)°. The rotation is highly reproducible, with the stepper motor not missing a step in 2000 repeated tests over 11 h

Collisional Stripping and Disruption of Super-Earths

The final stage of planet formation is dominated by collisions between planetary embryos. The dynamics of this stage determine the orbital configuration and the mass and composition of planets in the system. In the solar system, late giant impacts have been proposed for Mercury, Earth, Mars, and Pluto. In the case of Mercury, this giant impact may have significantly altered the bulk composition of the planet. Here we present the results of smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations of high-velocity (up to ~5 v_esc) collisions between 1 and 10 M_Earth planets of initially terrestrial composition to investigate the end stages of formation of extrasolar super-Earths. As found in previous simulations of collisions between smaller bodies, when collision energies exceed simple merging, giant impacts are divided into two regimes: (1) disruption and (2) hit-and-run (a grazing inelastic collision and projectile escape). Disruption occurs when the impact parameter is near zero, when the projectile mass is small compared to the target, or at extremely high velocities. In the disruption regime, we derive the criteria for catastrophic disruption (when half the total colliding mass is lost), the transition energy between accretion and erosion, and a scaling law for the change in bulk composition (iron-to-silicate ratio) resulting from collisional stripping of a mantle.Comment: 10 pages, 1 table, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter

The Professional Quality of Life of Domestic and Sexual Violence Advocates: A Systematic Review of Possible Risk and Protective Factors.

Professionals employed within the field of domestic and sexual violence (DV/SV) are known to experience both positive and negative psychological impacts because of the nature of their work. This review aims to establish which factors influence the professional quality of life (ProQOL) of DV/SV advocates. This group is known to face challenges that are specific to their working practices including scarce resources and frequent exposure to traumatic material. The systematic review protocol was designed based upon Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 guidance. Following a mixed-methods convergent segregated approach, a systematic search for qualitative and quantitative research within PsycINFO, Academic Search Complete, CINAHL, MEDLINE, Sage, Taylor & Francis, Wiley Online Library, and BASE was undertaken. Peer-reviewed empirical research and relevant gray literature, published in English, were considered for inclusion. Thirty articles were identified (16 quantitative, 13 qualitative, and 1 mixed-methods study), and assessed for methodological quality and risk of bias using established quality appraisal tools. An array of risk and protective factors emerged including communication competence, support from co-workers, office resources, and occupational stigma. A gap in the current evidence base was identified regarding the role that personal strengths may play in the well-being of those employed within the DV/SV sector. The ProQOL of DV/SV advocates is complex and dependent upon a variety of factors specific to their situation at the time. However, the findings of this review provide an important evidence base for future research avenues as well as policies and procedures for this workforce specifically