Where Homeless Families Come From: Toward a Prevention-Oriented Approach in Washington, DC

The District of Columbia shelter system currently operates on a continuum of care model that assumes all or most people with housing emergencies should enter shelters and move progressively through a series of fully subsidized residential programs, then on to independence. The federal government encouraged the development of this model, and it is one that predominates nationally. This approach, however, is inflexible and has relatively high fixed unit costs because it assumes that all homeless people, regardless of the nature of their housing emergency, should enter a system of supervised residential programs. In fact, not all segments of the homeless population require the extensive social services necessary to help chronically homeless persons. States and localities recognize that not everyone should enter the shelter system, and have increasingly looked to alternative methods to divert families and individuals from shelters. Typically they combine rigorous needs assessment with emergency housing assistance-such as time-limited rent subsidies, rent arrears assistance, relocation grants, utility assistance, or loans and often supplement such financial assistance with case management and/or referral to community programs. Homelessness prevention programs target the nearly homeless - those who with assistance can overcome an acute housing crisis and avoid a shelter stay - and generally are delivered in a neighborhood context. Unfortunately, federal funds for homelessness cannot currently be used for such activity

The Strategic Measures for the Industrial Security of Small and Medium Business

The competitiveness of companies increasingly depends upon whether they possess the cutting-edge or core technology. The technology should be protected from industrial espionage or leakage. A special attention needs to be given to SMB (small and medium business), furthermore, because SMB occupies most of the companies but has serious problems in terms of industrial security. The technology leakages of SMB would account for more than 2/3 of total leakages during last five years. The purpose of this study is, therefore, to analyze the problems of SMB in terms of industrial security and suggest the strategic solutions for SMB in South Korea. The low security awareness and financial difficulties, however, make it difficult for SMB to build the effective security management system which would protect the company from industrial espionage and leakage of its technology. The growing dependence of SMB on network such as internet, in addition, puts the SMB at risk of leaking its technology through hacking or similar ways. It requires new measures to confront and control such a risk. Online security control services and technology deposit system are suggested for such measures

The Differential Impacts of Federally Assisted Housing Programs on Nearby Property Values: A Philadelphia Case Study

Prior research has found negative impacts of public housing on neighborhood quality. Few studies have examined the impact of public and other assisted housing programs on real estate prices, particularly differential impact by program type. In this study, federally assisted housing units by program type are aggregated by 1/8- or 1/4-mile radii around individual property sales and regressed on sales prices from 1989 through 1991, controlling for area demographic, housing, and amenity variables. Results show that public housing developments exert a modest negative impact on property values. Scattered-site public housing and units rented with Section 8 certificates and vouchers have slight negative impacts. Federal Housing Administration–assisted units, public housing homeownership program units, and Section 8 New Construction and Rehabilitation units have modest positive impacts. Low-Income Housing Tax Credit sites have a slight negative effect. Results suggest that homeownership programs and new construction/rehabilitation programs have a more positive impact on property values

Where the Homeless Come From: A Study of the Prior Address Distribution of Families Admitted to Public Shelters in New York City and Philadelphia

This study investigates hypotheses regarding the association of census tract variables with the risk for homelessness. We used prior address information reported by families entering emergency shelters in two large U.S. cities to characterize the nature of that distribution. Three dense clusters of homeless origins were found in Philadelphia and three in New York City, accounting for 67 percent and 61 percent of shelter admissions and revealing that homeless families’ prior addresses are more highly concentrated than the poverty distribution in both cities. The rate of shelter admission is strongly and positively related to the concentration of poor, African-American, and female-headed households with young children in a neighborhood. It is also correlated with fewer youth, elderly, and immigrants. Such areas have higher rates of unemployment and labor force nonparticipation, more housing crowding, more abandonment, higher rates of vacancy, and higher rent-to-income ratios than other areas

Splenectomy is associated with an aggressive tumor growth pattern and altered host immunity in an orthotopic syngeneic murine pancreatic cancer model.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether splenectomy influences the tumor growth and metastatic pattern in an orthotopic syngeneic murine pancreatic cancer model. Murine pancreatic cancer cells (PAN02) were subcutaneously injected into the flanks of nude mice. A small tumor fragment (3 mm2), harvested from a subcutaneous tumor. was orthotopically implanted in the tail of the pancreas of C57/BL6 mice without splenectomy (control group, n=15) or with simultaneous splenectomy (splenectomy group, n=15). Tumor growth and metastatic patterns were analyzed by laparotomy at 21 days after surgery. No tumor growth was found in 5 mice (33.3%) of the control group and 1 mouse (6.7%) of the splenectomy group (p=0.169). Tumor volume was significantly larger in splenectomy group (p=0.013). Peritoneal seeding was more frequently observed in the splenectomy group (11 (73.3%) vs. 4 (26.7%), p=0.011). There were no differences in the number of liver and kidney metastasis between the two groups. The ratios of tumor-infiltrating CD4+ to FoxP3+ and CD8+ to FoxP3+ were significantly higher in the control group compared to the splenectomy group (8.2 ± 9.3 vs. 2.4 ± 1.5, p=0.046; 2.5 ± 1.4 vs. 1.5 ± 0.4, p=0.031, respectively). Splenectomy enhanced tumor growth and peritoneal seeding in an orthotopic syngeneic murine pancreatic cancer mouse model. The ramification of these results are discussed for pancreatic cancer treatment

TIBIO-FEMORAL JOINT FORCES DURING THE LANDING PHASE OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF VERTICAL JUMP

The purpose of this study was to compare the tibio-femoral contact forces during the landing phases of 8 different types of vertical jump (squat, countermovement, hop approach and drop jumps each with and without the use of arms). Data were collected from eight males and eight females. Two S-VHS camcorders and a force platform were used to obtain the 3-D kinematics and kinetics of the knee joint. Activities of selected muscles spanning the knee joint were monitored using surface electromyographic (EMG) techniques. The EMG-assisted optimization model was used to estimate the tibio-femoral joint forces. The peak compressive contact forces ranged from 3-5 body weight (SW) and from 2.5-3.7 SW for the males and females, respectively. These loads seldom fell within the range that is considered to be damaging to the cartilage at the knee

Acute Chylous Peritonitis Mimicking Ovarian Torsion in a Patient with Advanced Gastric Carcinoma

The extravasation of chyle into the peritoneal space usually does not accompany an abrupt onset of abdominal pain with symptoms and signs of peritonitis. The rarity of this condition fails to reach preoperative diagnosis prior to laparotomy. Here, we introduce a case of chylous ascites that presented with acute abdominal pain mimicking peritonitis caused by ovarian torsion in a 41-yr-old female patient with advanced gastric carcinoma. An emergency exploratory laparotomy was performed but revealed no evidence of ovarian torsion. Only chylous ascites was discovered in the operative field. She underwent a complete abdominal hysterectomy and salphingo-oophorectomy. Only saline irrigation and suction-up were performed for the chylous ascites. The postoperative course was uneventful. Her bowel movement was restored within 1 week. She was allowed only a fat-free diet, and no evidence of re-occurrence of ascites was noted on clinical observation. She now remains under consideration for additional chemotherapy

THE EFFECTS OF WEARING ROLLER SHOES ON GROUND REACTION FORCE CHARACTERISTICS DURING WALKING

Roller shoes have become increasingly popular among children and it features retractable wheels which allowing the user to walk or roll without changing the footwear. Maintaining balance during forward walking with roller shoes is not an easy task. To prevent falling backward, the user needs to lock the knees and tighten the ankles and thighs while the upper body is slightly leaning forward. Constant walking with roller shoes forces the user to walk in a manner much different from normal gait. Prolonged exposure to un-natural stresses on human body forces our body to evolve by strengthening those incorrect, and temporary functions (Clement et aI., 1981). For children, the chronic stress may lead to serious injuries in the lower extremity later in life. If any potential' of injury exists in a movement it is critical to examine the associated forces that may lead to injury. To the best of our knowledge, the effects of wearing roller shoes on ground reaction forces (GRF) characteristics have rarely been studied, especially in the youth population. Thus, the purpose of this study was to compare GRF characteristics during walking wearing jogging and roller shoes