It takes two to tango:mortgage markets, labor markets and rising household debt in Europe

Household mortgage debt unleashed devastating consequences for the global economy in 2007–2008. Despite the growing importance of household debt in financial markets, international political economy and comparative political economy have not theorized why it varies so much across Europe. We argue that variation in household debt can be explained by the intersection of two domestic institutions: labor market institutions (and by extension the welfare state) that enable households to withstand negative employment/income shocks, and mortgage finance institutions that govern households’ credit access. We empirically demonstrate via a panel analysis of 17 advanced capitalist democracies that the impact of these institutions on household debt is co-dependent. Strong collective bargaining institutions (and generous welfare states), which protect borrowers from income and employment insecurity, are associated with higher household indebtedness, but only if housing finance institutions that encourage mortgage lending are present (i.e. in Scandinavia and the Netherlands). In contrast, liberal (financialized) economies have comparatively lower household indebtedness because their labor market institutions inhibit income security for borrowers. As household debt becomes more central to comparative political economy, our findings suggest that scholars who study financialization need to integrate labor market (and welfare state) institutions into their analysis to understand how domestic financial systems function

Metal Mixing and Ejection in Dwarf Galaxies is Dependent on Nucleosynthetic Source

Using a high resolution simulation of an isolated dwarf galaxy, accounting for multi-channel stellar feedback and chemical evolution on a star-by-star basis, we investigate how each of 15 metal species are distributed within our multi-phase interstellar medium (ISM) and ejected from our galaxy by galactic winds. For the first time, we demonstrate that the mass fraction probability distribution functions (PDFs) of individual metal species in the ISM are well described by a piecewise log-normal and power-law distribution. The PDF properties vary within each ISM phase. Hot gas is dominated by recent enrichment, with a significant power-law tail to high metal fractions, while cold gas is predominately log-normal. In addition, elements dominated by asymptotic giant branch (AGB) wind enrichment (e.g. N and Ba) mix less efficiently than elements dominated by supernova enrichment (e.g. $\alpha$ elements and Fe). This result is driven by the differences in source energetics and source locations, particularly the higher chance compared to massive stars for AGB stars to eject material into cold gas. Nearly all of the produced metals are ejected from the galaxy (only 4% are retained), but over 20% of metals dominated by AGB enrichment are retained. In dwarf galaxies, therefore, elements synthesized predominately through AGB winds should be both overabundant and have a larger spread compared to elements synthesized in either core collapse or Type Ia supernovae. We discuss the observational implications of these results, their potential use in developing improved models of galactic chemical evolution, and their generalization to more massive galaxies.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures (plus 2 page, 2 figure appendix). Accepted to Ap

Conceptual design proposal: HUGO global range/mobility transport aircraft

With the collapse of the former Soviet Union and the emergence of the United Nations actively pursuing a peace keeping role in world affairs, the United States has been forced into a position as the world's leading peace enforcer. It is still a very dangerous world with seemingly never ending ideological, territorial, and economic disputes requiring the U.S. to maintain a credible deterrent posture in this uncertain environment. This has created an urgent need to rapidly transport large numbers of troops and equipment from the continental United States (CONUS) to any potential world trouble spot by means of a global range/mobility transport aircraft. The most recent examples being Operation Desert Shield/Storm and Operation Restore Hope. To meet this challenge head-on, a request for proposal (RFP) was developed and incorporated into the 1992/1993 AIAA/McDonnell Douglas Corporation Graduate Team Aircraft Design Competition. The RFP calls for the conceptual design and justification of a large aircraft capable of power projecting a significant military force without surface transportation reliance

Trail Users in the Cincinnati Metropolitan Region: Purposes, Patterns, and Preferences

The benefits of using multi-use trails have been recognized from different perspectives, such as improving public health, expanding active transportation options, and enhancing environmental quality. Trail managers in Greater Cincinnati have developed a 212-mile trail network, with plans to expand and connect the system. Given regional priorities for trail development, trail managers and advocates need to understand more about trail users and how they use the network. In response, two nonprofit organizations in this region, Tri-State Trails and Interact for Health, along with the assistance from researchers at the University of Minnesota, launched Greater Cincinnati’s first comprehensive trail measurement program including both trail traffic monitoring and an intercept survey of trail users. Monitoring results show the network is heavily used: in 2017, monitoring results on 137 miles of the network showed users traveled an estimated 11 million miles on those segments annually (Lindsey et al. 2019). This paper describes results of the survey which was designed with questions covering trip characteristics, perceptions of the trails, socio-demographics, and locational information. Between August 2017 and October 2017, 31 trail staff and volunteers administered the survey at 20 locations. 734 responses were obtained. Three methods are used to analyze the survey: descriptive summary, statistical association analysis, and geographical mapping. The descriptive results show 89% of respondents are recreational users while only 8.8% are utilitarian users. These utilitarian users cluster in areas close to Cincinnati downtown and along a centrally located, long trail that connects several communities. Most recreational users are female, white, between 35 and 64 years old, well-educated, and with relatively high incomes. These users primarily bicycled and walked on trails, drove less than 25 minutes to trail, and traveled less than 5 miles. In contrast, most utilitarian users are male, with income of less than $59,999, walked or biked to trail, and traveled no more than 2 miles on trails. Recreational and utilitarian users’ preferences are consistent with positive attitudes towards trail use and environment. Some differences between recreational and utilitarian users are statistically supported using the statistical association analysis. Geographically, the neighborhood context of trail users with different socio-demographics is displayed to illustrate clustering phenomenon among trail users by race and income. The differences between recreational and utilitarian users imply the importance of developing policies to satisfy various needs of trail users. This analysis provides a valuable framework for local governments to evaluate, manage, and improve the multi-use trail network

Toward Online Measurement of Decision State

In traditional perceptual decision-making experiments, two pieces of data are collected on each trial: response time and accuracy. But how confident were participants and how did their decision state evolve over time? We asked participants to provide a continuous readout of their decision state by moving a cursor along a sliding scale between a 100% certain left response and a 100% certain right response. Subjects did not terminate the trials; rather, trials were timed out at random and subjects were scored based on the cursor position at that time. Higher rewards for correct responses and higher penalties for errors were associated with extreme responses so that the response with the highest expected value was that which accurately reflected the participant's odds of being correct. This procedure encourages participants to expose the time-course of their evolving decision state. Evidence on how well they can do this will be presented

Effect of Moisture Content on Dust-Layer Dispersion Behind a Moving Shock Wave

PresentationSecondary dust explosions in coal mines or industrial settings are known to cause greater catastrophic hazards than the coupled primary explosions themselves. The shock waves produced during a primary explosion, which are initiated by inadvertent stimuli in an explosive atmosphere such as methane, lift surrounding coal particles from neighboring areas, and if added in an effort to create an inert mixture, limestone as well. This experimental study works with limestone dust, as its density is close to that of coal particles and its likely presence in the hazardous environment. The current study explored limestone moisture content to understand its effect on dust dispersion, which ultimately can influence the severity of a secondary explosion. A shock tube modified to evaluate dust dispersion provides the optical access to characterize the shock- wave / dust-layer interaction. Based on three shock Mach numbers, namely Ms = 1.1, 1.23, and 1.4, the trending data show an average increase of 10% in overall lifting heights and 20% in initial linear growth rates for the moisture-reduced, dried samples, as compared to undried samples stored in standard temperature and pressure (STP) conditions. Conceivably, the effective moisture reduction in the samples led to fewer agglomerations and/or reduced densities, influencing the ability of lift forces to act on the particles. The quantification of weight loss and weight differences between dried and undried samples was compared. The dust-layer rise height was measured with respect to time after the shock passage, where regardless of moisture content in the samples, initial dust growth rates increased with Mach number. Laminar and unstable regimes were also identified in the data samples, as seen in previous studies by the authors