Integrating Tiny Houses into the American Urban Fabric: A Comparative Case Study of Land Use Policy Change in the Carolinas

The concept of the American dream, manifested in the ownership of a detached single family home, remains a driving force in the housing market. Historically, small homes have held a prominent niche in this dream in both urban and rural areas. However, the expansion of restrictive urban land use policies to protect property values, paired with the rapid diminishment of the American middle class, has made homeownership increasingly difficult to achieve. The tiny house movement has emerged as a means to promote small, affordable, and sustainable home ownership. However, the construction of tiny homes, or even the traditional cottage, is illegal in many places throughout the United States. Zoning, land use ordinances, and restrictive covenants swept the country in the early twentieth century, and often prohibit the construction of structures smaller than a certain square footage. The challenge that tiny house proponents face, therefore, is how to change existing urban land use policy to accommodate the legal allowance of tiny and small houses, while retaining good city form. This dissertation examines how communities are altering land use policy in order to accommodate tiny and small houses. It does so through a mixed methods research design that involves both a comparative case study and visual preference survey. The case study locations of Asheville, North Carolina, and Horry County, South Carolina, are pioneering the way to creating land use policy that will accommodate tiny homes in the southeastern United States. However, each jurisdiction has developed different types of land use initiatives to integrate such homes. The implementation process and perceived success of these various initiatives are explored through archival analysis and interviews with tiny house stakeholders at each community. Since public perceptions greatly influence the resulting built environment, (Nasar 1998) there is a need to investigate the relationship between individuals’ perceptions of tiny house aesthetics and how those perceptions may affect resulting land use policy. In this study, this relationship is explored through the use of a visual preference survey instrument, which examines preferences for various design elements and the several ways in which tiny houses may be integrated into urban areas. The case study portion of the research culminated in the development of ten themes. Seven of the resulting themes are common to both case site locations, whereas three are site specific. These themes assist in the development of an understanding of the various barriers to tiny house integration, and how and why each case site is crafting specific tiny house polices. The visual preference survey indicated that there are some differences in average preferences for various tiny house visual elements. For example, the analyses revealed a significantly different, and lower, preference for the integration of tiny homes on their own lots among other housing types, and a significantly different, and higher, preference for traditional styles of architecture. However, the results were mixed when analyzing if perceptions of tiny and small homes affect the resulting land use policy. The research has resulted in several implications for tiny house advocates and planners. These implications have been crafted into five best practice recommendations for the integration of tiny and small houses into communities. Among them, the research has indicated that the primary driver behind tiny house integration is affordability

Common Ground: An Examination of Rural Planning and the Growing Amish Presence in Missouri

How do rural communities in Missouri balance the potentially conflicting land use and economic planning needs between incoming and growing Amish populations and non-Amish populations? This qualitative research addresses a gap in the literature by examining the growing Amish population in rural America through the lens of community planning. A comparative case study was conducted in three Amish communities in Missouri and included interviews with public officials who engage in planning and planning-related tasks and an Amish leader at each case site. This project finds that Amish growth and expansion is resulting in both community conflicts and collaborative efforts in rural areas. The project culminates in the development of implications that planners might consider in order to actualize better outcomes for rural communities in the midst of the growth of this ethnoreligious group. [Abstract by author.

Integrating Tiny Houses into the American Urban Fabric: A Comparative Case Study of Land Use Policy Change in the Carolinas

The concept of the American dream, manifested in the ownership of a detached single family home, remains a driving force in the housing market. Historically, small homes have held a prominent niche in this dream in both urban and rural areas. However, the expansion of restrictive urban land use policies to protect property values, paired with the rapid diminishment of the American middle class, has made homeownership increasingly difficult to achieve. The tiny house movement has emerged as a means to promote small, affordable, and sustainable home ownership. However, the construction of tiny homes, or even the traditional cottage, is illegal in many places throughout the United States. Zoning, land use ordinances, and restrictive covenants swept the country in the early twentieth century, and often prohibit the construction of structures smaller than a certain square footage. The challenge that tiny house proponents face, therefore, is how to change existing urban land use policy to accommodate the legal allowance of tiny and small houses, while retaining good city form. This dissertation examines how communities are altering land use policy in order to accommodate tiny and small houses. It does so through a mixed methods research design that involves both a comparative case study and visual preference survey. The case study locations of Asheville, North Carolina, and Horry County, South Carolina, are pioneering the way to creating land use policy that will accommodate tiny homes in the southeastern United States. However, each jurisdiction has developed different types of land use initiatives to integrate such homes. The implementation process and perceived success of these various initiatives are explored through archival analysis and interviews with tiny house stakeholders at each community. Since public perceptions greatly influence the resulting built environment, (Nasar 1998) there is a need to investigate the relationship between individuals\u27 perceptions of tiny house aesthetics and how those perceptions may affect resulting land use policy. In this study, this relationship is explored through the use of a visual preference survey instrument, which examines preferences for various design elements and the several ways in which tiny houses may be integrated into urban areas. The case study portion of the research culminated in the development of ten themes. Seven of the resulting themes are common to both case site locations, whereas three are site specific. These themes assist in the development of an understanding of the various barriers to tiny house integration, and how and why each case site is crafting specific tiny house polices. The visual preference survey indicated that there are some differences in average preferences for various tiny house visual elements. For example, the analyses revealed a significantly different, and lower, preference for the integration of tiny homes on their own lots among other housing types, and a significantly different, and higher, preference for traditional styles of architecture. However, the results were mixed when analyzing if perceptions of tiny and small homes affect the resulting land use policy. The research has resulted in several implications for tiny house advocates and planners. These implications have been crafted into five best practice recommendations for the integration of tiny and small houses into communities. Among them, the research has indicated that the primary driver behind tiny house integration is affordability. Therefore, tiny house land use policy should reflect this desire to achieve housing affordability. It is hoped that the findings and implications from this research will assist proponents of tiny house living in the development of successful tiny house integration policy

Conformational studies of the beta amyloid protein and in vitro models for the effects of apolipoprotein E on fibril formation in Alzheimer's disease

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Chemistry, 1996.Includes bibliographical references.by Krista Carole Evans.Ph.D

Invertebrate communities in adjacent Douglas fir and native beech forests in New Zealand

Non-native trees profoundly alter the structure and resilience of native forest ecosystems through direct or indirect effects on ecosystem processes, e.g. by altering invertebrate communities, but such effects are poorly understood in New Zealand. We sampled adjacent stands of the non-native tree Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) and native beech (Nothofagaceae) forests and tested whether the overall invertebrate communities varied across forest types. We then assessed whether natural enemies, both trophic-generalist predators and more trophic-specialist parasitoids, differed across forest types. We found a trend for lower overall invertebrate family diversity in Douglas fir plantations compared to native beech forests. Parasitoid abundance was lower in Douglas fir forests compared to native beech forests, although we could not tease apart whether these effects were due to differences in forest age, forest type, or a combination of these factors. Our findings suggest that there are subtle shifts in invertebrate community composition from native forests to non-native forests, and that trophic specialisation might play a key role in determining which natural enemies can inhabit non-native forests in New Zealand. Nevertheless, our small sample size calls for further exploration of these patterns.Fil: Evans, Alison M.. Department Of Conservation; Nueva ZelandaFil: Peralta, Guadalupe. University of Canterbury; Nueva Zelanda. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: van Beest, Floris M.. Department Of Conservation; Nueva ZelandaFil: Klijzing, Krista. Department Of Conservation; Nueva ZelandaFil: Peltzer, Duane. Crown Research Institutes. Landcare Research; Nueva Zeland

Multiple Soft Tissue Sarcomas in a Single Patient:An International Multicentre Review

Developing multiple soft tissue sarcomas (STSs) is a rare process, sparsely reported in the literature to date. Little is known about the pattern of disease development or outcomes in these patients. Patients were identified from three tertiary orthopaedic oncology centres in Canada and the UK. Patients who developed multiple extremity STSs were collated retrospectively from prospective oncology databases. A literature review using MEDLINE was also performed. Six patients were identified in the case series from these three institutions, and five studies were identified from the literature review. Overall, 17 patients were identified with a median age of 51 years (range: 19 to 77). The prevalence of this manifestation in STS patients is 1 in 1225. The median disease-free interval between diagnoses was 2.3 years (range: 0 to 19 years). Most patients developed the secondary STS in a metachronous pattern, the remaining, synchronously. The median survival after the first sarcoma was 6 years, and it was 1.6 years after the second sarcoma. The 5-year overall survival rate was 83.3% and 50% following the first and second STS diagnoses, respectively. A diagnosis of two STSs does not confer a worse prognosis than the diagnosis of a single STS. Developing a second STS is a rare event with no identifiable histological pattern of occurrence. Presentation in a metachronous pattern is more common. A high degree of vigilance is required in patients with a previous STS both to detect both local recurrence and to identify new masses remote from the previous STS site. Acquiring an early histological diagnosis should be attempted

Targeting ligand-activated ErbB2 signaling inhibits breast and prostate tumor growth

AbstractErbB2 is a ligand-less member of the ErbB receptor family that functions as a coreceptor with EGFR, ErbB3, and ErbB4. Here, we describe an approach to target ErbB2's role as a coreceptor using a monoclonal antibody, 2C4, which sterically hinders ErbB2's recruitment into ErbB ligand complexes. Inhibition of ligand-dependent ErbB2 signaling by 2C4 occurs in both low- and high-ErbB2-expressing systems. Since the ErbB3 receptor contains an inactive tyrosine kinase domain, 2C4 is very effective in blocking heregulin-mediated ErbB3-ErbB2 signaling. We demonstrate that the in vitro and in vivo growth of several breast and prostate tumor models is inhibited by 2C4 treatment

Glycan shifting on hepatitis C virus (HCV) E2 glycoprotein is a mechanism for escape from broadly neutralizing antibodies

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major cause of liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma. Glycan shielding has been proposed to be a mechanism by which HCV masks broadly neutralizing epitopes on its viral glycoproteins. However, the role of altered glycosylation in HCV resistance to broadly neutralizing antibodies is not fully understood. Here, we have generated potent HCV neutralizing antibodies hu5B3.v3 and MRCT10.v362 that, similar to the previously described AP33 and HCV1, bind to a highly conserved linear epitope on E2. We utilize a combination of in vitro resistance selections using the cell culture infectious HCV and structural analyses to identify mechanisms of HCV resistance to hu5B3.v3 and MRCT10.v362. Ultra deep sequencing from in vitro HCV resistance selection studies identified resistance mutations at asparagine N417 (N417S, N417T and N417G) as early as 5 days post treatment. Comparison of the glycosylation status of soluble versions of the E2 glycoprotein containing the respective resistance mutations revealed a glycosylation shift from N417 to N415 in the N417S and N417T E2 proteins. The N417G E2 variant was glycosylated neither at residue 415 nor at residue 417 and remained sensitive to MRCT10.v362. Structural analyses of the E2 epitope bound to hu5B3.v3 Fab and MRCT10.v362 Fab using X-ray crystallography confirmed that residue N415 is buried within the antibody–peptide interface. Thus, in addition to previously described mutations at N415 that abrogate the β-hairpin structure of this E2 linear epitope, we identify a second escape mechanism, termed glycan shifting, that decreases the efficacy of broadly neutralizing HCV antibodies

Demographic and sociocultural risk factors for adulthood weight gain in Hispanic/Latinos: results from the Hispanic Community Health Study / Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL)

Background United States (US) Hispanic/Latinos experience a disproportionate burden of obesity, which may in part be related to demographic or sociocultural factors, including acculturation to an US diet or inactive lifestyle. Therefore, we sought to describe the association between adulthood weight histories and demographic and sociocultural factors in a large diverse community-based cohort of US Hispanic/Latinos. Methods We estimated the effect of several factors on weight gain across adulthood, using multivariable linear mixed models to leverage 38,759 self-reported current body weights and weight histories recalled for 21, 45 and 65 years of age, from 15,203 adults at least 21 years of age at the baseline visit of the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (2008–2011). Results The average rate of weight gain was nearly 10 kg per decade in early adulthood, but slowed to < 5 kg a decade among individuals 60+ years of age. Birth cohort, gender, nativity or age at immigration, Hispanic/Latino background, and study site each significantly modified the form of the predicted adulthood weight trajectory. Among immigrants, weight gain during the 5 years post-migration was on average 0.88 kg (95% CI: 0.04, 1.72) greater than the weight gain during the 5 years prior. The rate of weight gain appeared to slow after 15 years post-migration. Conclusions Using self-reported and weight history data in a diverse sample of US Hispanic/Latinos, we revealed that both demographic and sociocultural factors were associated with the patterning of adulthood weight gain in this sample. Given the steep rate of weight gain in this population and the fact that many Hispanic/Latinos living in the US immigrated as adults, efforts to promote weight maintenance across the life course, including after immigration, should be a top priority for promoting Hispanic/Latino health and addressing US health disparities more broadly

Ultrafine particles and PM2.5 in the air of cities around the world : Are they representative of each other?

Can mitigating only particle mass, as the existing air quality measures do, ultimately lead to reduction in ultrafine particles (UFP)? The aim of this study was to provide a broader urban perspective on the relationship between UFP, measured in terms of particle number concentration (PNC) and PM2.5 (mass concentration of particles with aerodynamic diameter 1 for roadside sites and <1 for urban background sites with lower values for more polluted cities. The Pearson's r ranged from 0.09 to 0.64 for the log-transformed data, indicating generally poor linear correlation between PNC and PM2.5. Therefore, PNC and PM2.5 measurements are not representative of each other; and regulating PM2.5 does little to reduce PNC. This highlights the need to establish regulatory approaches and control measures to address the impacts of elevated UFP concentrations, especially in urban areas, considering their potential health risks.Peer reviewe