Affordable Housing, Land Tenure, and Urban Policy: The Matrix Revealed

Under current law, most new affordable housing is constructed by private entities employing a variety of federal, state, and local subsidies. Developers and residents must choose which among various, sometimes conflicting goals their project will emphasize. In this paper, the authors analyze the differing goals subsidized housing projects can serve, the trade offs that different goals may present, and the means to achieve goals and minimize conflicts. Goals identified include the provision of physically decent housing, building residents\u27 wealth, social integration in the larger community, urban vitality, training, social engagement, institution building, and efficient use of public funds. The authors also examine leading federal and state housing programs, including traditional public housing, Section 8, the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, and inclusionary zoning to identify how they promote or frustrate achievement of these goals

Credit union restructuring: don't forget the member!

It is recognised in the marketing literature that services consist of core and relational dimensions, and in a long term customer relationship, the relational dimension can give competitive advantage to a business. One of the gaps in the credit union literature is a discussion on the impact of credit unions mergers on this key competitive advantage. And when member value is discussed, it tends to be confined to the core product aspect such as increased range of services and better rates rather than relational aspects. The focus of this paper is on the interplay between core product and relational dimensions in the member preferences around the future restructuring of the movement. It was found that credit union members clearly value their relationship with the credit union and are not willing to trade the local nature of the credit union as they know it, for increased services

Low surface gravitational acceleration of Mars results in a thick and weak lithosphere : implications for topography, volcanism, and hydrology

The first author acknowledges funding from an Initiative d’Excellence (IDEX) “Attractivité” grant (VOLPERM), funded by the University of Strasbourg. M.H. also acknowledges support from the CNRS (INSU 2016-TelluS-ALEAS).Surface gravitational acceleration (surface gravity) on Mars, the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, is much lower than that on Earth. A direct consequence of this low surface gravity is that lithostatic pressure is lower on Mars than on Earth at any given depth. Collated published data from deformation experiments on basalts suggest that, throughout its geological history (and thus thermal evolution), the Martian brittle lithosphere was much thicker but weaker than that of present-day Earth as a function solely of surface gravity. We also demonstrate, again as a consequence of its lower surface gravity, that the Martian lithosphere is more porous, that fractures on Mars remain open to greater depths and are wider at a given depth, and that the maximum penetration depth for opening-mode fractures (i.e., joints) is much deeper on Mars than on Earth. The result of a weak Martian lithosphere is that dykes—the primary mechanism for magma transport on both planets—can propagate more easily and can be much wider on Mars than on Earth. We suggest that this increased the efficiency of magma delivery to and towards the Martian surface during its volcanically active past, and therefore assisted the exogeneous and endogenous growth of the planet's enormous volcanoes (the heights of which are supported by the thick Martian lithosphere) as well as extensive flood-mode volcanism. The porous and pervasively fractured (and permeable) nature of the Martian lithosphere will have also greatly assisted the subsurface storage of and transport of fluids through the lithosphere throughout its geologically history. And so it is that surface gravity, influenced by the mass of a planetary body, can greatly modify the mechanical and hydraulic behaviour of its lithosphere with manifest differences in surface topography and geomorphology, volcanic character, and hydrology.PostprintPeer reviewe

Cellular dynamic simulator: an event driven molecular simulation environment for cellular physiology.

In this paper, we present the Cellular Dynamic Simulator (CDS) for simulating diffusion and chemical reactions within crowded molecular environments. CDS is based on a novel event driven algorithm specifically designed for precise calculation of the timing of collisions, reactions and other events for each individual molecule in the environment. Generic mesh based compartments allow the creation / importation of very simple or detailed cellular structures that exist in a 3D environment. Multiple levels of compartments and static obstacles can be used to create a dense environment to mimic cellular boundaries and the intracellular space. The CDS algorithm takes into account volume exclusion and molecular crowding that may impact signaling cascades in small sub-cellular compartments such as dendritic spines. With the CDS, we can simulate simple enzyme reactions; aggregation, channel transport, as well as highly complicated chemical reaction networks of both freely diffusing and membrane bound multi-protein complexes. Components of the CDS are generally defined such that the simulator can be applied to a wide range of environments in terms of scale and level of detail. Through an initialization GUI, a simple simulation environment can be created and populated within minutes yet is powerful enough to design complex 3D cellular architecture. The initialization tool allows visual confirmation of the environment construction prior to execution by the simulator. This paper describes the CDS algorithm, design implementation, and provides an overview of the types of features available and the utility of those features are highlighted in demonstrations

Dose and life stage-dependent effects of dietary beta-carotene supplementation on the growth and development of the Booroolong frog

Carotenoids are known for their antioxidant capacity and are considered to play an important role in vertebrate growth and development. However, evidence for their beneficial effects remains limited, possibly because very few studies have tested for dose effects across different life stages. The present study investigated the effect of various doses of dietary beta-carotene supplements on the growth and development of larval and post-metamorphic Booroolong frogs (Litoria booroolongensis). Larval and post-metamorphic basal diets (containing 0.015 and 0.005 mg g−1 total carotenoids, respectively) were supplemented with beta-carotene at one of four concentrations: 0 mg g−1 , 0.1 mg g−1 , 1 mg g−1 and 10 mg g−1 . Each treatment included 72 replicate individuals, and individuals remained on the same diet treatment over both life stages (spanning 53 experimental weeks). Our results show that larvae receiving an intermediate (1 mg g−1 ) beta-carotene supplement dose grew faster than unsupplemented larvae (0 mg g−1 ), and metamorphosed earlier. After metamorphosis, there was no effect of the lowest supplement dose (0.1 mg g−1 ) on growth and development. However, juveniles fed the highest supplement dose (10 mg g−1 ) displayed significantly smaller body mass and lower body condition, compared to all other supplement doses, from 4-months through to sexual maturity (7-months). These findings indicate that beta-carotene supplementation has positive effects on growth and development, but only at intermediate doses, and only in the larval life stage. This knowledge may assist with amphibian conservation by expediting the rate that metamorphs can be generated in captive breeding programmes. More broadly, this is the first study to demonstrate both dose and life stagedependent effects of dietary beta-carotene supplementation on vertebrate growth and development

Advances in understanding large-scale responses of the water cycle to climate change

Globally, thermodynamics explains an increase in atmospheric water vapor with warming of around 7%/°C near to the surface. In contrast, global precipitation and evaporation are constrained by the Earth's energy balance to increase at ∼2–3%/°C. However, this rate of increase is suppressed by rapid atmospheric adjustments in response to greenhouse gases and absorbing aerosols that directly alter the atmospheric energy budget. Rapid adjustments to forcings, cooling effects from scattering aerosol, and observational uncertainty can explain why observed global precipitation responses are currently difficult to detect but are expected to emerge and accelerate as warming increases and aerosol forcing diminishes. Precipitation increases with warming are expected to be smaller over land than ocean due to limitations on moisture convergence, exacerbated by feedbacks and affected by rapid adjustments. Thermodynamic increases in atmospheric moisture fluxes amplify wet and dry events, driving an intensification of precipitation extremes. The rate of intensification can deviate from a simple thermodynamic response due to in‐storm and larger‐scale feedback processes, while changes in large‐scale dynamics and catchment characteristics further modulate the frequency of flooding in response to precipitation increases. Changes in atmospheric circulation in response to radiative forcing and evolving surface temperature patterns are capable of dominating water cycle changes in some regions. Moreover, the direct impact of human activities on the water cycle through water abstraction, irrigation, and land use change is already a significant component of regional water cycle change and is expected to further increase in importance as water demand grows with global population

Reversible Dissociation of a Dialumene

Dialumenes are neutral Al(I) compounds with Al=Al multiple bonds. We report the isolation of an amidophosphine‐supported dialumene. Our X‐ray crystallographic, spectroscopic, and computational DFT analyses reveal a long and extreme trans‐bent Al=Al bond with a low dissociation energy and bond order. In solution, the dialumene can dissociate into monomeric Al(I) species. Reactivity studies reveal two modes of reaction: as dialumene or as aluminyl monomers