Pricing FHA Mortgage Default Insurance

The fair premia on FHA mortgage default insurance contracts are computed under alternative assumptions regarding the expected house price inflation rate and its variance and homeowner's default costs. The contracts considered vary by amortization schedule (15 and 30 year level-payment mortgages and two graduated-payment mortgages) and initial loan-to-value ratio (80 to 95.8percent) .The results indicate a wide variation in fair insurance premia. Because FHA charges all borrowers the same premia, large cross-subsidies exist within the program, with borrower's obtaining low loan-to-value or rapidly amortizing loans subsidizing borrowers with high loan-to-value or negative amortizing loans. Moreover, the movement toward insuring riskier loans --graduated payment, price-level adjusted and adjustable rate -- without increasing insurance premia seems almost certain to lead to significant overall losses for the program.

Planned development of rural communities : two case studies

This research project was a case study of two planned new community developments in rural areas. The two communities selected for this study were Dripping Springs near Winchester, Tennessee and the Elkmont Rural Village adjacent to Elkmont, Alabama. These two planned new communities were studied because they are rural developments with demonstration value. The objectives were: (1) to examine the development process of two rural new communities; and (2) to obtain the residential attitudes toward a planned new community, Dripping Springs. The development process of a new community can be enhanced by the location of the community. A new community developed near a viable city will mature faster than a community built in a more remote area. The development needs to be close enough to a viable town to enhance growth but far enough away from the town to make the land purchased for the development cheap enough to make the project profitable. Dripping Springs was developed near Winchester, which had a 1980 population of 5,821. Elkmont Rural Village was developed adjacent to Elkmont, which had a 1980 population of 429. Dripping Springs was developed using cul-de-sacs branching off the already existing highway. Elkmont Rural Village was developed using cul-de-sacs branching off an arterial street that was built through the middle of the development. Residents of Dripping Springs, that responded to a pre-structured questionnaire, are well educated. The respondents all had at least a high school education and 69.6 percent had a college degree or more. Most of the respondents lived within 10 miles of their jobs and drove personal cars to work. Family income level of the Dripping Springs respondents ranged from $17,000 to$45,000 annually and averaged $30,600. Responding residents of Dripping Springs indicated lake access was a major factor in selecting their respective lots. The expected increasing value of Dripping Springs lots was also a major consideration by the responding residents. Respondents felt public water was important. Other services that received consideration by these residents were medical facilities, churches, and fire protection. Rural qualities of the development was the most preferred quality by the Dripping Springs residents. Neighbors in the community were also highly important. The residents indicated the quietness of the development associated with no through traffic was a preferred quality of the community. The respondents named some areas in which they felt improvement could be made. About 47.6 percent of these residents felt the building codes should be stricter. One-third of the respondents desired more recreational facilities in the community. Other major suggestions included: larger lots, better use of the Property Owners Association, and more variety in TERDA homes

A Theory of Mind investigation into the appreciation of visual jokes in schizophrenia

BACKGROUND: There is evidence that groups of people with schizophrenia have deficits in Theory of Mind (ToM) capabilities. Previous studies have found these to be linked to psychotic symptoms (or psychotic symptom severity) particularly the presence of delusions and hallucinations. METHODS: A visual joke ToM paradigm was employed where subjects were asked to describe two types of cartoon images, those of a purely Physical nature and those requiring inferences of mental states for interpretation, and to grade them for humour and difficulty. Twenty individuals with a DSM-lV diagnosis of schizophrenia and 20 healthy matched controls were studied. Severity of current psychopathology was measured using the Krawiecka standardized scale of psychotic symptoms. IQ was estimated using the Ammons and Ammons quick test. RESULTS: Individuals with schizophrenia performed significantly worse than controls in both conditions, this difference being most marked in the ToM condition. No relationship was found for poor ToM performance and psychotic positive symptomatology, specifically delusions and hallucinations. CONCLUSION: There was evidence for a compromised ToM capability in the schizophrenia group on this visual joke task. In this instance this could not be linked to particular symptomatology

The Cataloguing and Shelving of Graphic Novels: A Comparison of Public Librarian and Patron Perceptions

With the recent rise of pop culture, the graphic novel has sought its place in our public libraries. There have always been issues over where to place, and how to classify and shelve this often troublesome format. Although there has been much discussion, very little research has been done into this field, and the opinions of those who use graphic novel collections, as well as those who do not, have not been sought in the past. This project aimed to compare the opinions of three groups in regards to the placement and classification of graphic novels in public libraries; public librarians, graphic novel readers, and those who do not read graphic novels. In order to do this, a mixed method approach was taken. Four public librarians from around Otago and Southland were interviewed in order to learn their opinions, while a survey of library patrons was undertaken in order to discover how graphic novel readers and non-readers felt about this topic. This survey targeted users of the same libraries the interviewees worked at, and overall 41 useful responses were collected. The research found that librarian’s opinions were not the major factor to effect how libraries dealt with graphic novel collections. They were more likely to be influenced by other factors, like space restrictions. Librarian’s opinions also tended to align with those of graphic novel readers, rather than non- readers. The research also provides a strong mandate for public libraries to build separate graphic novel collections, with both readers and non-readers agreeing that public libraries should have graphic novel collections

Final Project Report: Hydraulic Model Study Tawas Bay Marina Harbor Modification Evaluations

https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154148/1/39015099114665.pd

A Systematic Kernel Function Procedure for Determining Aerodynamic Forces on Oscillating or Steady Finite Wings at Subsonic Speeds

Details are given of a numerical solution of the integral equation which relates oscillatory or steady lift and downwash distributions in subsonic flow. The procedure has been programmed for the IBM 704 electronic data processing machine and yields the pressure distribution and some of its integrated properties for a given Mach number and frequency and for several modes of oscillation in from 3 to 4 minutes, results of several applications are presented