Ensuring access to essential services : demand-side housing subsidies

This paper examines the strengths and weaknesses of demand-side subsidy approaches for improving poor households'access to housing services. It begins with a discussion of the rationale for stand-alone housing assistance programs, and a description of the ongoing transition away from traditional supply-side housing assistance to demand-side subsidies. The paper presents model demand-side approaches, but also draws on real world examples to highlight various aspects of program design related to targeting, transparency, price distortion, institutional capacity, administrative complexity, and funding. It also describes how variations in the design of housing-related subsidy programs can appear in response to philosophical, political, and resource considerations. The paperconcludes with a discussion of the appropriateness of different subsidy approaches for various situations.Banks&Banking Reform,Housing&Human Habitats,Public Sector Economics,Municipal Financial Management,Public&Municipal Finance

Strong Shift Equivalence of C∗C^*-correspondences

We define a notion of strong shift equivalence for $C^*$-correspondences and show that strong shift equivalent $C^*$-correspondences have strongly Morita equivalent Cuntz-Pimsner algebras. Our analysis extends the fact that strong shift equivalent square matrices with non-negative integer entries give stably isomorphic Cuntz-Krieger algebras.Comment: 26 pages. Final version to appear in Israel Journal of Mathematic

Higher dimensional Calabi-Yau manifolds of Kummer type

Based on Cynk-Hulek method we construct complex Calabi-Yau varieties of arbitrary dimensions using elliptic curves with automorphism of order 6. Also we give formulas for Hodge numbers of varieties obtained from that construction. We shall generalize result of Katsura and Sch\"utt to obtain arbitrarily dimensional Calabi-Yau manifolds which are Zariski in any characteristic $p\not\equiv 1\pmod{12}.$Comment: 13 pages, 2 figure

Analysis of indoor environment and insulation performance of residential house with double envelope vacuum insulation panels

Double envelope vacuum insulation panels (VIPs) have a possibility to significantly increase the service lifetime. In this paper, double envelope VIPs were produced and installed in the residential house. The performance of installed VIPs was evaluated by using the measuring data of heat flux meter. In addition, the total energy, the heating load and the indoor thermal environment of this house were measured and analysed. The average heating load and the average temperature difference between room temperature and ambient air temperature on the representative day was 2.49 kW and 29.9 oC, respectively. The heat loss coefficient per floor area was estimated as 0.69 W/(m2K) and it was almost the same as the value calculated at the time of design. The result of indoor environment measurement showed that the room temperature was maintained at around 20 oC and PMV was -0.5 oC or higher although the outside air temperature fluctuated between -5 oC and -10 oC. The effective thermal conductivities of double envelop VIPs were all estimated as 0.01 W/(mK) or less. It is considered that the insulation performance of the vacuum insulation panels is maintained

Experimental analysis of vacuum pressure and gas flow rate in structured-core transparent vacuum insulation panels

The notion that modern buildings should strive to be net-zero energy buildings (NZEBs) is widely accepted. One of the causes leading to high energy usage for space heating, resulting in avoidable carbon emissions, is heat loss via building windows. In order to improve window’s insulation in existing buildings, structured-core transparent vacuum insulation panels (TVIPs) are proposed. TVIPs mainly consist of the structured core material, the low-emissivity film, and the transparent gas barrier envelope. TVIPs have high insulation performance and are inexpensive to manufacture and can be easily installed. Therefore, TVIPs have the potential to improve window’s insulation in existing buildings at a low cost. However, it is necessary to overcome the issue of preventing the pressure rise inside TVIP after vacuum sealing. The authors constructed an experimental setup to quantify the effect of reduction of gas flow rate in TVIP after evacuation by applying the pressure-rate-of-rise-method. In this experiment, a gas barrier film with a straw was used as the vacuum chamber. This could reproduce the pressure increase in the TVIP after sealing and the gas flow rate in the TVIP is evaluated. The experimental result shows that the coated core material and the enclosing getter agent lowered the pressure rise and gas flow rate in TVIP by combining concurrent evacuation and heating. Furthermore, after extending the simultaneous vacuuming and heating period to 8 h and applying the coated core material, and enclosing the getter agent, the internal pressure in TVIP may be lowered to around 1 Pa after 30 min after halting vacuuming. It was confirmed that this pressure satisfied the performance required for TVIPs, and the result was much closer to the realization of TVIPs

On the magic square C*-algebra of size 4

In this paper, we investigate the structure of the magic square C*-algebra (4) of size 4. We show that a certain twisted crossed product of (4) is isomorphic to the homogeneous C*-algebra 4 ( ($\mathbb{R}$$^3$)). Using this result, we show that (4) is isomorphic to the fixed point algebra of 4 ( ($\mathbb{R}$$^3$)) by a certain action. From this concrete realization of (4), we compute the K-groups of (4) and their generators

Electric-dipole active two-magnon excitation in {\textit{ab}} spiral spin phase of a ferroelectric magnet Gd0.7_{\textbf{0.7}}Tb0.3_{\textbf{0.3}}MnO3_{\textbf 3}

A broad continuum-like spin excitation (1--10 meV) with a peak structure around 2.4 meV has been observed in the ferroelectric $ab$ spiral spin phase of Gd$_{0.7}$Tb$_{0.3}$MnO$_3$ by using terahertz (THz) time-domain spectroscopy. Based on a complete set of light-polarization measurements, we identify the spin excitation active for the light $E$ vector only along the a-axis, which grows in intensity with lowering temperature even from above the magnetic ordering temperature but disappears upon the transition to the $A$-type antiferromagnetic phase. Such an electric-dipole active spin excitation as observed at THz frequencies can be ascribed to the two-magnon excitation in terms of the unique polarization selection rule in a variety of the magnetically ordered phases.Comment: 11 pages including 3 figure

Static strengthening and fatigue blunt-notch sensitivity in low-carbon steels

The influence of four different static strengthenings on the fatigue blunt-notch sensitivity of a low-carbon steel with a ferrite–pearlite microstructure was analyzed and modeled. The analysis was made using a model previously derived which estimates the fatigue limit of blunt notched components by means of the parameter ktd defined as the stress concentration introduced by the notch at a distance d from the notch root surface equal to the distance between microstructural barriers. While the distance d between microstructural barriers is kept constant by keeping constant the grain size, the effective resistance of the microstructural barriers to crack propagation is increased by static strengthening. The analyses have shown the influence of the distribution and effective resistance of the first two or three microstructural barriers on fatigue blunt-notch sensitivity.Fil: Chapetti, Mirco Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales; ArgentinaFil: Katsura, N.. Nagoya University. Material Science and Engineering; JapónFil: Tagawa, T.. Nagoya University. Material Science and Engineering; JapónFil: Miyata, T.. Nagoya University. Material Science and Engineering; Japó