Resurgent landlordism in a student city: urban dynamics of private rental growth

Many countries have seen a remarkable revival of private-rental housing markets in recent years. Academic literature so far has focused on theorizing the political-economic drivers of reinvestment in the tenure or on charting aggregate trends. This paper adds to these literatures in several ways based on a fine-grained analysis of housing market transformations in Groningen, a medium-sized university city in The Netherlands. First, we reveal the variegated trajectories through which private-rental growth materializes on the ground and untangle the role of different types of landlords. While small-scale private landlords remain dominant, we find a clear and important trend toward property concentration. Second, we highlight variations in spatial investment strategies across landlord types. Third, we reveal how contemporary dynamics of increased landlordism play out in a medium-sized city, embedded in a context of national private rental resurgence and local housing market pressures of a growing student city

Advancing innovation in the public sector: Aligning innovation measurement with policy goals

There is sufficient evidence, drawn from surveys of innovation in the public sector and cognitive testing interviews with public sector managers, to develop a framework for measuring public sector innovation. Although many questions that are covered in the Oslo Manual guidelines for measuring innovation in the private sector can be applied with some modifications to the public sector, public sector innovation surveys need to meet policy needs that require collecting additional types of data. Policy to support public sector innovation requires data on how public sector organizations innovate and how a strategic management approach to innovation can influence the types of innovations that are developed. Both issues require innovations surveys to delve deeply into the innovation processes and strategies that are used by public sector managers. Implementation of the measurement framework proposed in this paper would open up opportunities for a new, policy-relevant research program on public sector innovation

Environmental concentrations of antifouling paint particles are toxic to sediment-dwelling invertebrates

Antifouling paint particles (APPs) and associated metals have been identified in sediments around boatyards and marinas globally, but the effects of APPs on benthic organisms are largely unknown. Sub-lethal endpoints were measured following laboratory exposures of the harbour ragworm (Hediste diversicolor) and the common cockle (Cerastoderma edule) to environmentally relevant concentrations of biocidal (‘modern’ and ‘historic’) and biocide-free (‘silicone’) APPs added to clean estuarine sediment. Further, the 5-day median lethal concentrations (LC50) and effects concentrations (EC50) for modern biocidal APPs were calculated. For ragworms, significant decreases in weight (15.7%; p < 0.01) and feeding rate (10.2%; p < 0.05) were observed in the modern biocidal treatment; burrowing behaviour was also reduced by 29% in this treatment, but was not significant. For cockles, the modern biocidal treatment led to 100% mortality of all replicates before endpoints were measured. In cockles, there was elevated levels of metallothionein-like protein (MTLP) in response to both modern and historic biocidal treatments. Ragworms had a higher tolerance to modern APPs (5-day LC50:19.9 APP g L−1; EC50: 14.6 g L−1) compared to cockles (5-day LC50: 2.3 g L−1 and EC50: 1.4 g L−1). The results of this study indicate that modern biocidal APPs, containing high Cu concentrations, have the potential to adversely affect the health of benthic organisms at environmentally relevant concentrations. The findings highlight the need for stricter regulations on the disposal of APP waste originating from boatyards, marinas and abandoned boats

Antifouling paint particles in intertidal estuarine sediments from southwest England and their ingestion by the harbour ragworm, Hediste diversicolor

© 2019 Antifouling paint particles (APPs) of between 500 μm and >2 mm in diameter have been identified in silty, intertidal estuarine sediments through a combination of microscopy and x-ray fluorescence spectrometry. APPs were heterogeneously distributed, with maximal concentrations of 430 particles L −1 (0.2 g L −1 ) near to a facility where boats are regularly maintained and 400 particles L −1 (4.2 g L −1 ) at a location where old boats had been abandoned, with the majority of particles encountered in the finest size fraction retrieved. APPs contained variable concentrations of Cu, Zn, Sn and Pb, with respective maxima of 562,000, 269,000, 9,970 and 126,000 mg kg −1 . These characteristics are attributed to a multitude of contemporary and historic sources of an assortment of formulations and result in significant but heterogeneous metal contamination of local sediments. APPs were also identified in the guts of the deposit-feeding ragworm, Hediste diversicolor, that inhabited sediments impacted by abandoned boats or boating activities. The tissue of H. diversicolor was particularly enriched in Cu where ingested APPs were observed, with a significant correlation between dry weight Cu concentrations in the two media (r = 0.734) presumably reflecting the inability of the animal to regulate this metal. While the toxicity of APPs requires further investigation, there is clearly a need for stricter regulations on antifouling wastes in boatyards and marinas and a requirement to better manage abandoned boats. Antifouling paint particles in contaminated estuarine sediments can be ingested by Hediste diversicolor and result in the bioaccumulation of copper