Saving in Individual Development Accounts: Latent Growth Curve Modeling

This article examines saving patterns of participants in Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) using initial deposit and growth rate of savings in latent growth curve modeling (LGCM). This study uses data on low-income households from the American Dream Demonstration (ADD), the first large-scale demonstration program of IDAs. Contrary to a linear growth of savings examined by average values, LGCM revealed that participants saved much less 18 month after opening an IDA account. In addition, LGCM showed that individual participants have significant variations in initial deposits and growth rate of savings, and income type appears to explain some of these variations. While regular income is positively associated with initial deposits, irregular income is positively related to saving growth slope. Turning to institutional features, since direct deposit facilitates savings, users of direct deposit make more frequent deposits and have a much steeper rate of savings growth

Clinical and Experimental Cell Therapy in Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s disease (PD), a chronic neurodegenerative disorder, is characterized as a movement disorder with resting tremor, dyskinesia, gait disturbance, etc. The main pathology is based on the progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra of the midbrain. These motor symptoms can be treated by dopaminergic drugs, but over time, the drug’s effect has less efficacy, and side effects develop such as involuntary movements. As there is no gold standard long-term treatment for this condition, there is a strong need to develop new drugs and therapies. The clinical and experimental findings of successful intrastriatal transplantation of fetal mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons into the brains of patients with PD have been well established. The development of human stem cell technology including embryonic stem (ES) cells or induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells opened a new field called clinical cell therapy, especially for PD. In this chapter, we cover the scientific progress of the clinical and experimental trials of cell therapy for patients with PD. It also contains the recent advances in the clinical application of stem cells including neural stem cells, mesencephalic stem cell, ESC, and iPS cells and unsolved problems in the clinical setting. The combination of gene therapy and gene-manipulated stem cell application in PD therapy will be the most discussed in this area

On a Class of Semilinear Elliptic Equations in Rn

AbstractWe establish that for n⩾3 and p>1, the elliptic equation Δu+K(x)up=0 in Rn possesses separated positive entire solutions of infinite multiplicity, provided that a locally Hölder continuous function K⩾0 in Rn\{0}, satisfies K(x)=O(∣x∣σ) at x=0 for some σ>−2, and K(x)=c∣x∣−2+O(∣x∣−n[log∣x∣]q) near ∞ for some constants c>0 and q>0. In the radial case K(x)=∣x∣l1+∣x∣τ with l>−2 and τ⩾0, or K(x)=∣x∣λ−2(1+∣x∣2)λ/2 with λ>0, we investigate separation phenomena of positive radial solutions, and show that if n and p are large enough, the equation possesses a positive radial solution with initial value α at 0 for each α>0 and a unique positive radial singular solution among which any two solutions do not intersect

Attitudes Toward Institutional Features and Savings in Individual Development Accounts: Latent Class Analysis

This exploratory study focuses on classifying attitudes toward institutional features of Individual Development Accounts (IDAs). This study also examines to what extent the attitudes change and how they are associated with savings in IDAs. While attitudes toward IDAs are generally positive, latent class analysis (LCA) found 3 groups, “highly positive, “moderately positive,” and “mixed opinion.” Race is significantly associated with the classification. This study found dynamic changes in attitudes at 18 months and 48 months after the baseline interview. While attitudes became somewhat more positive for 18% of participants, they became more negative for 26%. It was also found that participants with a mixed attitude had significantly lower savings, suggesting that attitudes influence saving in IDAs

Assets as a Resource Variable in the Stress Management of Low-Income Families

The hard times resulting from the 2008 recession represent an opportunity to re-examine the theoretical framework for how families use economic resources to adjust and adapt to stress. Sherraden’s (1991) theory of assets and McCubbin and Patterson’s (1983) Family Adjustment and Adaptation Response (FAAR) model are used to demonstrate how assets relate to family stressors and demands among a sample of 839 low-income families. The negative relationship between assets and financial stressors and financial strain suggest that the expansion of social welfare policies promoting assets among low-income families may positively influence family relations. Future research on family relations would benefit from measuring assets as economic resources and testing how assets affect family investments

Second Thoughts: Who Almost Participates in an IDA?

Self-selection into social intervention programs may bias the estimates of treatment impact. Data from an Individual Development Account (IDA) program (N = 758) are used to examine the self-selection process. Persons who applied but did not enroll are assumed to have had “second thoughts” about program participation. Multivariate logistic regression predicted second thoughts and showed that having children in the household and negative net worth, along with not owning a vehicle, were positively related to having second thoughts. Those saving for an education were more likely than those saving for a home or business to have second thoughts. Implications for social service administration and impact evaluation of IDAs are shared

Do Institutions Really Matter for Saving Among Low-Income Households? a Comparative Approach

This study aims to examine the extent to which competing theories explain saving of low-income households in Individual Development Accounts (IDAs). Competing theories include individual-oriented perspective, social stratification perspective, and institutional saving theory. This study uses American Dream Demonstration (ADD) data collected at the Tulsa IDA program. Compared with the individual perspective and the social stratification perspective, institutional features explain a significant part of the variance in saving outcomes measured by average monthly net deposit (AMND) and deposit frequency ratio (DFR). Findings suggest that an inclusive asset-based policy should be designed with institutional structures encouraging low-income households to save

Characteristics of vertical velocities estimated from drop size and fall velocity spectra of a Parsivel disdrometer

Vertical air velocities were estimated from drop size and fall velocity spectra observed by Parsivel disdrometers during intensive field observations from 13 June to 3 August 2016 around Mt. Jiri (1915ma.s.l.) in the southern Korean Peninsula. Rainfall and wind velocity data measured by Parsivel disdrometers and ultrasonic anemometers, respectively, were analyzed for an orographic rainfall event associated with a stationary front over Mt. Jiri on 1 July 2016. In this study, a new technique was developed to estimate vertical air velocities from drop size and fall velocity spectra measured by the Parsivel disdrometers and investigate characteristics of up-/downdrafts and related microphysics on the windward and leeward sides of the mountain. To validate results from this technique, vertical air velocities between the Parsivel disdrometers and anemometers were compared at different locations and were shown in quite good agreement with each other. It was shown that upward motion was relatively more dominant on the windward side and even during periods of heavy rainfall. In contrast, downward motion was more dominant on the leeward side during nearly the same periods of heavy rainfall. Occurrences of upward and downward motion were digitized as percentage values as they are divided by a total count of occurrences during the entire period. On the windward (leeward) side, the percentages of upward (downward) motion were much larger than those of downward (upward) motion. The mean rainfall intensity on the leeward side was stronger than on the windward side, suggesting that most of the rainfall on the leeward side was relatively more affected by the downward motion. With the estimated vertical air velocities, histogram characteristics of rainfall parameters were also examined between the windward and leeward sides