Residential relocation in response to light rail transit investment: case study of the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail system

© 2016, The Author(s).It is widely acknowledged that the improved accessibility enabled by investment in public transport services can, under favorable market conditions, impact the local real estate market within the zone of influence of the service’s stations. The motivation for this study is to establish the nature of two such impacts, specifically the spatial and socio-economic patterns of residential relocations that are driven by the new light rail transit (LRT) service. Using empirical data (n = 1,023) from the Hudson–Bergen Light Rail system in New Jersey (US), we report findings regarding the impacts of the introduction of the new LRT service. We investigate two linked dimensions; the first is the distinctive socio-economic profile of LRT passengers who self-report having relocated to the new transit corridor due, at least in part, to the new transit service. The second is their proximity (following their residential relocation) to the new LRT line’s stations. We present a novel analysis that accounts for endogeneity between these two dimensions of residential relocation. Of light rail passengers who engaged in a residential relocation in the 5 years prior to the survey, two-thirds (69 %) indicate that proximity to the light rail service was a ‘somewhat’ or ‘very’ important consideration. Via the multivariate analysis, we demonstrate that small household size, low income, youth (as opposed to older age), and low car ownership are each positively linked, ceteris paribus, with having engaged in a residential relocation motivated by the new transit service. Finally, higher household income is found to be associated with distance (after relocation) to the nearest transit station, which is consistent with bid-rent theory

Studying the relationship between emulsion structure and lipid digestibility for infant milk : a thesis was present in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Food Technology, at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

All Figures are re-used with the publishers' permission.Milk, whether maternal or formulated, provides the sole source of nutrition to infants in the early stages of life, providing critical micronutrients, support for the immune function and primary dietary macronutrients including lipids. In healthy adults, lipids are primarily digested in the small intestine. However, for infants, the neonatal small intestine is not fully developed after birth, so the gastric environment plays a more significant role in milk fat digestion. Clinical studies have shown that maternal milk fat is digested more efficiently than lipids in infant formulae in infants under infant gastric conditions. Compositional differences, the structure of the oil droplets, and especially the interfacial composition may all play a crucial role in influencing lipid digestibility in the infant's stomach. In this thesis, the simulated gastric digestion of model emulsions and commercial infant formula was studied. The model emulsions comprised either a phospholipid or complexed protein-phospholipid interface while keeping all other facets of emulsion properties equivalent. Gastric digestion of these emulsions was carried out across variable pH conditions using an analogue gastric lipase, alone and in combination with pepsin with findings providing insights into the role of each enzyme and their combined effect on gastric lipolysis. The rate and extent of lipolysis were characterised, along with morphological changes to the structure of the oil droplets. Results showed that gastric lipolysis might be influenced by pH conditions in the gastric environment when lipase was present alone in the simulated gastric fluid. The inclusion of pepsin resulted in significant structural changes when emulsions were stabilised with protein, in terms of droplet aggregation, size and morphology. However, no significant differences in the extent of lipolysis were determined. Thus, while the protein interface of both model and formulated emulsions was not observed to be a barrier for gastric lipolysis. Proteolysis of protein stabilised emulsions may lead to very different structural outcomes during gastric digestion when compared to phospholipid stabilised emulsions. While the research within this thesis demonstrates how the gastric environment influences emulsion structure as a consequence of interfacial composition, any specific relationship between structure and relative rate of gastric lipolysis currently remains undetermined. This research also highlights some of the ongoing challenges in the use of in vitro models to provide mechanistic understanding and interpretation of findings from clinical studies

DsJ(2860)D_{sJ}(2860) and DsJ(2715)D_{sJ}(2715)

Recently Babar Collaboration reported a new $c\bar{s}$ state $D_{sJ}(2860)$ and Belle Collaboration observed $D_{sJ}(2715)$. We investigate the strong decays of the excited $c\bar{s}$ states using the $^{3}P_{0}$ model. After comparing the theoretical decay widths and decay patterns with the available experimental data, we tend to conclude: (1) $D_{sJ}(2715)$ is probably the $1^{-}(1^{3}D_{1})$ $c\bar{s}$ state although the $1^{-}(2^{3}S_{1})$ assignment is not completely excluded; (2) $D_{sJ}(2860)$ seems unlikely to be the $1^{-}(2^{3}S_{1})$ and $1^{-}(1^{3}D_{1})$ candidate; (3) $D_{sJ}(2860)$ as either a $0^{+}(2^{3}P_{0})$ or $3^{-}(1^{3}D_{3})$ $c\bar{s}$ state is consistent with the experimental data; (4) experimental search of $D_{sJ}(2860)$ in the channels $D_s\eta$, $DK^{*}$, $D^{*}K$ and $D_{s}^{*}\eta$ will be crucial to distinguish the above two possibilities.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables. Some discussions added. The final version to appear at EPJ

Vectorial structure of a hard-edged-diffracted four-petal Gaussian beam in the far field

Based on the vector angular spectrum method and the stationary phase method and the fact that a circular aperture function can be expanded into a finite sum of complex Gaussian functions, the analytical vectorial structure of a four-petal Gaussian beam (FPGB) diffracted by a circular aperture is derived in the far field. The energy flux distributions and the diffraction effect introduced by the aperture are studied and illustrated graphically. Moreover, the influence of the f-parameter and the truncation parameter on the nonparaxiality is demonstrated in detail. In addition, the analytical formulas obtained in this paper can degenerate into un-apertured case when the truncation parameter tends to infinity. This work is beneficial to strengthen the understanding of vectorial properties of the FPGB diffracted by a circular aperture