11,552 research outputs found
Fund Flows and Commercial Real Estate Investment: Evidence from the Commercial Mortgage Market
This paper addresses the issue of the impact of fund flows on real investment. In the classical world, fund flows affect investment by changing the cost of funds or through the weighted average cost of capital. In a less perfect world, fund flows can directly alter investment though a rationing mechanism, where even presumably profitable investment is choked off. This paper examines the commercial mortgage market over the last quarter century. The findings indicate an effect of constrained flows on investment in the early 1990s, but an independent impact of higher flows to the commercial mortgage market in the middle 1980s is not found.
eXtended Variational Quasicontinuum Methodology for Lattice Networks with Damage and Crack Propagation
Lattice networks with dissipative interactions are often employed to analyze
materials with discrete micro- or meso-structures, or for a description of
heterogeneous materials which can be modelled discretely. They are, however,
computationally prohibitive for engineering-scale applications. The
(variational) QuasiContinuum (QC) method is a concurrent multiscale approach
that reduces their computational cost by fully resolving the (dissipative)
lattice network in small regions of interest while coarsening elsewhere. When
applied to damageable lattices, moving crack tips can be captured by adaptive
mesh refinement schemes, whereas fully-resolved trails in crack wakes can be
removed by mesh coarsening. In order to address crack propagation efficiently
and accurately, we develop in this contribution the necessary generalizations
of the variational QC methodology. First, a suitable definition of crack paths
in discrete systems is introduced, which allows for their geometrical
representation in terms of the signed distance function. Second, special
function enrichments based on the partition of unity concept are adopted, in
order to capture kinematics in the wakes of crack tips. Third, a summation rule
that reflects the adopted enrichment functions with sufficient degree of
accuracy is developed. Finally, as our standpoint is variational, we discuss
implications of the mesh refinement and coarsening from an energy-consistency
point of view. All theoretical considerations are demonstrated using two
numerical examples for which the resulting reaction forces, energy evolutions,
and crack paths are compared to those of the direct numerical simulations.Comment: 36 pages, 23 figures, 1 table, 2 algorithms; small changes after
review, paper title change
The Living ROMP of trans-Cyclooctene
The living ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) of trans-cyclooctene (tCO) was investigated. ROMP of tCO in the presence of PPh_3 in THF leads to the formation of narrowly dispersed polycyclooctene (PCO). The presence of PPh3 as an additive and the use of THF as a solvent were demonstrated to be necessary to suppress competing secondary metathesis processes in the ROMP of tCO. Under optimal conditions, narrowly dispersed PCO was achieved without high molecular weight contaminates. The PCO was then hydrogenated to form linear, narrowly dispersed polyethylene with a melting temperature of 139 °C. Protected, hydroxy-functionalized tCO was polymerized by this method to afford narrowly dispersed, hydroxylated PCO. Block copolymers containing polynorbornene and PCO or containing differentially functionalized PCO were also synthesized and hydrogenated to form block copolymers containing blocks of linear, narrowly dispersed polyethylene
Engineered bidirectional communication mediates a consensus in a microbial biofilm consortium
Microbial consortia form when multiple species colocalize and communally generate a function that none is capable of alone. Consortia abound in nature, and their cooperative metabolic activities influence everything from biodiversity in the global food chain to human weight gain. Here, we present an engineered consortium in which the microbial members communicate with each other and exhibit a “consensus” gene expression response. Two colocalized populations of Escherichia coli converse bidirectionally by exchanging acyl-homoserine lactone signals. The consortium generates the gene-expression response if and only if both populations are present at sufficient cell densities. Because neither population can respond without the other's signal, this consensus function can be considered a logical AND gate in which the inputs are cell populations. The microbial consensus consortium operates in diverse growth modes, including in a biofilm, where it sustains its response for several days
The Mechanics of Judicial Vote Switching
In a handful of cases, including one from last Term, the United States Supreme Court was divided between upholding, remanding, and overturning a lower court decision, with no majority in favor of any of these three dispositions. In each of these cases, at least one Justice switched his or her vote to achieve a majority. With the Supreme Court taking ever fewer cases and producing increasingly complicated split decisions, we may expect this pattern to recur more often. This Article, drawing upon game theory and public choice scholarship, addresses how and why this practice of strategic vote switching emerged
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