Historical Preservation Districts and Home Sale Prices: Evidence from the Sacramento Housing Market

Historical Preservation Districts and Home Sale Prices: Evidence from the Sacramento Housing Market Abstract: During the past two decades, cities have turned increasingly to historic preservation of residential and commercial property as a method to help revive declining metropolitan areas. Sacramento, California, established historical preservation districts in an attempt to protect and maintain older structures while simultaneously increasing their value. Historic preservation, however, imposes strict rules on property owners that make property improvement more expensive than it otherwise would be. This paper uses hedonic price theory on a sample of residential properties in Sacramento to test whether positive externalities resulting from an historic preservation designation outweigh the potential negative impact of a cumbersome set of rules. The findings suggest that an historic preservation designation has a net positive impact on property values in four of the six preservation districts in the sample

Pricing in the Hospitality Industry: An Implicit Markets Approach

The authors apply economic theory to an analysis of industry pricing. Data from a cross-section of San Francisco hotels is used to estimate the implicit prices of common hotel amenities, and a procedure for using these prices to estimate consumer demands for the attributes is outlined. The authors then suggest implications for hotel decision makers. While the results presented here should not be generalized to other markets, the methodology is easily adapted to other geographic areas

Incomplete Compensation and Migration Behavior: Has Anything Changed Between 1990 and 2000?

Spatial equilibrium models rely on migration to arbitrage away differences in utility across locations net of moving costs, where remaining differences in wages and rents reflect the compensating differentials related to site-specific amenities. Recent refinements to the spatial equilibrium model focus upon the prospect of disequilibrium in amenity markets. Amenity market disequilibrium implies over- or undercompensation (incomplete compensation) across some locations, which suggests a role for these factors in subsequent migration. This paper follows the theoretical and empirical approach of Clark, Herrin, Knapp, and White (2003). An intercity wage regression is estimated where fixed effects capture the impact of site characteristics on wages. We then regress the fixed effects on a comprehensive vector of site attributes, where the residuals capture incomplete compensation in wages. The derived measures of incomplete compensation are included in a binary logit model of migration. The results provide further evidence that incomplete compensation for site characteristics is a significant factor in migration decisions, and the findings are consistent with tendencies toward spatial equilibrium

A Cabonaceous Chondrite Dominated Lithology from the HED Parent; PRA 04401

The paired howardite breccias Mt. Pratt (PRA) 04401 and PRA 04402 are notable for their high proportion of carbonaceous chondrite clasts [1]. They consist predominantly of coarse (0.1-7 mm) diogenite (orthopyroxene), eucrite (plagioclase + pyroxene), and carbonaceous chondrite clasts set in a finer grained matrix of these same materials. Coarse C-chondrite clasts up to 7 mm are composed mainly of fine-grained phyllosilicates with lesser sulfides and high-mg# anhydrous magnesian silicates. Most of these clasts appear to be texturally consistent with CM2 classification [1] and some contain relict chondrules. The clasts are angular and reaction or alteration textures are not apparent in the surrounding matrix. PRA 04401 contains about 70 modal% C-chondrite clasts while PRA 04402 contains about 7%. Although many howardites are known to contain abundant C-chondrite clasts [2,3,4], PRA 04401 is, to our knowledge, the most chondrite-rich howardite lithology identified to date. Low EPMA totals from CM2-type clasts in other howardites suggest that they frequently contain 10 wt% or more water [2], a figure consistent with their mineralogy. PRA 04401, therefore, demonstrates the potential for hydrous lithologies with greater than 5 wt% water to occur locally within the nominally anhydrous HED parent body. Since the origin of this water is xenogenic, it might therefore be concentrated in portions of the asteroid surface where it would be more readily observable by remote sensing techniques. We plan to further examine C-chondrite clasts in PRA 04401/2 with the intent of establishing firm chemical classification, estimating water content, and evaluating their relationship with the host breccia. To help place them in context of the HED parent, we will also compare these breccias with other howardites to evaluate which lithologies are likely to be more prevalent on the asteroid surface

Using the Uganda National Panel Survey to Analyze the Effect of Staple Food Consumption on Undernourishment in Ugandan children

Background: The United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals Report, 2015, documents that, since 1990, the number of stunted children in sub-Saharan Africa has increased by 33% even though it has fallen in all other world regions. Recognizing this, in 2011 the Government of Uganda implemented a 5-year Nutrition Action Plan. One important tenet of the Plan is to lessen malnutrition in young children by discouraging over-consumption of nutritionally deficient, but plentiful, staple foods, which it defines as a type of food insecurity. Methods: We use a sample of 6101 observations on 3427 children age five or less compiled from three annual waves of the Uganda National Panel Survey to measure undernourishment. We also use the World Health Organization’s Child Growth Standards to create a binary variable indicating stunting and another indicating wasting for each child in each year. We then use random effects to estimate binary logistic regressions that show that greater staple food concentrations affect the probability of stunting and wasting. Results: The estimated coefficients are used to compute adjusted odds ratios (OR) that estimate the effect of greater staple food concentration on the likelihood of stunting and the likelihood of wasting. Controlling for other relevant covariates, these odds ratios show that a greater proportion of staple foods in a child’s diet increases the likelihood of stunting (OR = 1.007, p = 0.005) as well as wasting (OR = 1.011, p = 0.034). Stunting is confirmed with subsamples of males only (OR = 1.006, p = 0.05) and females only (OR = 1.008, p = 0.027), suggesting that the finding is not gender specific. Another subsample of children aged 12 months or less, most of whom do not yet consume solid food, shows no statistically significant relationship, thus supporting the validity of the other findings. Conclusion: Diets containing larger proportions of staple foods are associated with greater likelihoods of both stunting and wasting in Ugandan children. Other causes of stunting and wasting identified in past research are also confirmed with the Uganda data. Finally, the analysis provides clues to other possible causes of undernourishment in young children

STS-118 Radiator Impact Damage

During the August 2007 STS-118 mission to the International Space Station, a micro-meteoroid or orbital debris (MMOD) particle impacted and completely penetrated one of shuttle Endeavour s radiator panels and the underlying thermal control system (TCS) blanket, leaving deposits on (but no damage to) the payload bay door. While it is not unusual for shuttle orbiters to be impacted by small MMOD particles, the damage from this impact is larger than any previously seen on the shuttle radiator panels. A close-up photograph of the radiator impact entry hole is shown in Figure 1, and the location of the impact on Endeavour s left-side aft-most radiator panel is shown in Figure 2. The aft radiator panel is 0.5-inches thick and consists of 0.011 inch thick aluminum facesheets on the front and back of an aluminum honeycomb core. The front facesheet is additionally covered by a 0.005 inch thick layer of silver-Teflon thermal tape. The entry hole in the silver-Teflon tape measured 8.1 mm by 6.4 mm (0.32 inches by 0.25 inches). The entry hole in the outer facesheet measured 7.4 mm by 5.3 mm (0.29 inches by 0.21 inches) (0.23 inches). The impactor also perforated an existing 0.012 inch doubler that had been bonded over the facesheet to repair previous impact damage (an example that lightning can strike the same place twice, even for MMOD impact). The peeled-back edge around the entry hole, or lip , is a characteristic of many hypervelocity impacts. High velocity impact with the front facesheet fragmented the impacting particle and caused it to spread out into a debris cloud. The debris cloud caused considerable damage to the internal honeycomb core with 23 honeycomb cells over a region of 28 mm by 26 mm (1.1 inches by 1.0 inches) having either been completely destroyed or partially damaged. Figure 3 is a view of the exit hole in the rear facesheet, and partially shows the extent of the honeycomb core damage and clearly shows the jagged petaled exit hole through the backside facesheet. The rear facesheet exit hole damage including cracks in the facesheet measures 14 mm by 14 mm (0.55 inches by 0.55 inches). The remnants of the impacting particle and radiator panel material blown through the rear facesheet hole also created two penetrations in the TCS blanket 115 mm (4.5 inches) behind the rear facesheet. Figure 4 shows these two impacts, which are located 75 mm (3 inches) apart. Some deposits of material were found on the payload bay door beneath the TCS blanket, but no additional damage occurred to the door. Figure 5 illustrates the relationship of the facesheet entry hole to the TCS blanket damage, which may indicate the direction of the impacting particle. The image on the left side of Figure 5 shows an overhead view of the damaged radiator after the facesheet holes were cored out of the panel. The entry hole location and the two underlying TCS blanket damage sites are annotated on the image. Section A-A, running through the entry hole and TCS blanket damage locations, describes a 25 angle from the longitudinal axis of the shuttle. The 2nd impact angle can be seen in section A-A on the right side of Figure 5. An average 17 angle of impact to the surface normal was derived by measuring the angles of the two damage sites in TCS blanket to the entry hole

Trends in Drug Utilization, Glycemic Control, and Rates of Severe Hypoglycemia, 2006-2013.

ObjectiveTo examine temporal trends in utilization of glucose-lowering medications, glycemic control, and rate of severe hypoglycemia among patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM).Research design and methodsUsing claims data from 1.66 million privately insured and Medicare Advantage patients with T2DM from 2006 to 2013, we estimated the annual 1) age- and sex-standardized proportion of patients who filled each class of agents; 2) age-, sex-, race-, and region-standardized proportion with hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) <6%, 6 to <7%, 7 to <8%, 8 to <9%, ≥9%; and 3) age- and sex-standardized rate of severe hypoglycemia among those using medications. Proportions were calculated overall and stratified by age-group (18-44, 45-64, 65-74, and ≥75 years) and number of chronic comorbidities (zero, one, and two or more).ResultsFrom 2006 to 2013, use increased for metformin (from 47.6 to 53.5%), dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitors (0.5 to 14.9%), and insulin (17.1 to 23.0%) but declined for sulfonylureas (38.8 to 30.8%) and thiazolidinediones (28.5 to 5.6%; all P < 0.001). The proportion of patients with HbA1c <7% declined (from 56.4 to 54.2%; P < 0.001) and with HbA1c ≥9% increased (9.9 to 12.2%; P < 0.001). Glycemic control varied by age and was poor among 23.3% of the youngest and 6.3% of the oldest patients in 2013. The overall rate of severe hypoglycemia remained the same (1.3 per 100 person-years; P = 0.72), declined modestly among the oldest patients (from 2.9 to 2.3; P < 0.001), and remained high among those with two or more comorbidities (3.2 to 3.5; P = 0.36).ConclusionsDuring the recent 8-year period, the use of glucose-lowering drugs has changed dramatically among patients with T2DM. Overall glycemic control has not improved and remains poor among nearly a quarter of the youngest patients. The overall rate of severe hypoglycemia remains largely unchanged

Carbonaceous Chondrite-Rich Howardites; The Potential for Hydrous Lithologies on the HED Parent

Howardites, eucrites, and diogenites, collectively referred to as the "HED's", are a clan of meteorites thought to represent three different lithologies from a common parent body. Collectively they are the most abundant type of achondrites in terrestrial collections. Eucrites are crustal basalts and gabbros, diogenites are mostly orthopyroxenites and are taken to represent lower crust or upper mantle materials, and howardites are mixed breccias containing both lithologies and are generally regarded as derived from the regolith or near-surface. The presence of exogenous chondritic material in howardite breccias has long been recognized. As a group, howardites exhibit divergence in bulk chemistry from what would be produced by mixing of diogenite and eucrite end-members exclusively, a phenomenon most evident in elevated concentrations of siderophile elements. Despite this chemical evidence for chondritic input in howardite breccias, chondritic clasts have only been identified in a minority of samples, and typically at levels of only a few percent. Three recent Antarctic howardite finds, the paired Mt. Pratt (PRA) 04401 and PRA 04402 and Scott Glacier (SCO) 06040, are notable for their high proportion of carbonaceous chondrite clasts. PRA 04401 is particularly well-endowed, with large chondritic clasts occupying more than half of the modal area of the sections we examined. Previously only a few percent chondritic clasts had been observed to occur in howardites. PRA 04401 is the most chondrite-rich howardite know

Samples from Differentiated Asteroids; Regolithic Achondrites

Differentiated and partially differentiated asteroids preserve a glimpse of planet formation frozen in time from the early solar system and thus are attractive targets for future exploration. Samples of such asteroids arrive to Earth in the form of achondrite meteorites. Many achondrites, particularly those thought to be most representative of asteroidal regolith, contain a diverse assortment of materials both indigenous and exogenous to the original igneous parent body intermixed at microscopic scales. Remote sensing spacecraft and landers would have difficulty deciphering individual components at these spatial scales, potentially leading to confusing results. Sample return would thus be much more informative than a robotic probe. In this and a companion abstract [1] we consider two regolithic achondrite types, howardites and (polymict) ureilites, in order to evaluate what materials might occur in samples returned from surfaces of differentiated asteroids and what sampling strategies might be prudent