THE EFFECTS OF FARMLAND, FARMLAND PRESERVATION AND OTHER NEIGHBORHOOD AMENITIES ON PROXIMATE HOUSING VALUES: RESULTS OF A CONJOINT ANALYSIS OF HOUSING CHOICE

Using stated-preference data from a choice-based conjoint analysis instrument, we estimate willingness to pay for the presence of neighboring land that is dedicated to agricultural use (versus a developed land use) and for the preservation of surrounding farmland as permanent cropland. The data also elucidate how individuals balance the values associated with nearby agricultural land patterns with other key neighborhood characteristics such as neighborhood parks, housing density, commute times, school quality and neighborhood safety. The median respondent from a randomly chosen sample of Columbus, Ohio homeowners was willing to pay $843 annually to avoid immediate conversion of 10 percent of agricultural land within one mile of the house valued in the conjoint experiment while the same respondent was willing to pay$277 annually to preserve the same amount of farmland as permanent cropland. We find provision of neighborhood parks within housing developments to be a strong substitute for farmland preservation.Land Economics/Use,

Properties of Noble Metal Nanoparticles: Molecular Dynamics and Density Functional Theory Studies

Supported metal nanoparticles play an important role in heterogeneous catalysis. In recent years, carbon nanotubes, because of their unique properties, have drawn interest as supports. The structural and dynamic properties of the supported metal nanoparticles can have a large effect on their catalytic properties. Towards understanding how the geometry of the support affects the properties of the metal nanoparticles, we performed molecular dynamics simulations of platinum and platinum- gold nanoparticles on graphite and bundles of carbon nanotubes of various diameters. Our results indicate that diffusion of the nanoparticle center of mass is one order of magnitude slower for Pt nanoparticles supported by carbon nanotube bundles than for Pt nanoparticles supported by graphite. Density profiles, radial distribution functions, and coordination numbers were used to characterize the morphology of the Pt nanoparticles. We found that carbon nanotube-supported nanoparticles exhibit a more disordered structure than graphite-supported nanoparticles. Simulations of nanoparticles containing 130, 249, and 498 atoms were conducted to assess how nanoparticle size affects nanoparticle morphology and mobility. It was found that increasing the nanoparticle size decreased its diffusion coefficient and increased its melting temperature. The size of the nanoparticle appears to affect the nanoparticle structure less than the geometry of the support. The effect of the metal-carbon interaction strength on the structure of the supported nanoparticles was studied, and our results indicated that there are not dramatic differences in the nanoparticle structure when different interaction parameters are used. Bimetallic Pt-Au nanoparticles were simulated in an effort to determine how the support and nanoparticle composition affect the distribution of atoms within and on the surface of the nanoparticles. We found that, regardless of the support, Au atoms tended to segregate to the exterior of the nanoparticles. However, different supports lead to different arrangements of surface atoms in the nanoparticle, which has an effect on the nanoparticles catalytic activity. We also performed density functional theory calculations for CO adsorption on 13-atom Pt-Au clusters. We found that changing the environment around the metal atom on which CO adsorbs changes the adsorption energy and C-O vibrational frequency. Electronic structure properties of the clusters, such as charges on relevant atoms and densities of states, were discussed to explain the observed results

Enhanced hydrogen storage in Ni/Ce composite oxides

The properties of dried (but not calcined) coprecipitated nickel ceria systems have been investigated in terms of their hydrogen emission characteristics following activation in hydrogen. XRD and BET data obtained on the powders show similarities to calcined ceria but it is likely that the majority of the material produced by the coprecipitation process is largely of an amorphous nature. XPS data indicate very little nickel is present on the outermost surface of the particles. Nevertheless, the thermal analytical techniques (TGA, DSC and TPD-MS) indicate that the hydrogen has access to the catalyst present and the nickel is able to generate hydrogen species capable of interacting with the support. Both unactivated and activated materials show two hydrogen emission features, viz. low temperature and high temperature emissions (LTE and HTE, respectively) over the temperature range 50 and 500 °C. A clear effect of hydrogen interaction with the material is that the activated sample not only emits much more hydrogen than the corresponding unactivated one but also at lower temperatures. H2 dissociation occurs on the reduced catalyst surface and the spillover mechanism transfers this active hydrogen into the ceria, possibly via the formation and migration of OH− species. The amount of hydrogen obtained (0.24 wt%) is 10× higher than those observed for calcined materials and would suggest that the amorphous phase plays a critical role in this process. The affiliated emissions of CO and CO2 with that of the HTE hydrogen (and consumption of water) strongly suggests a proportion of the hydrogen emission at this point arises from the water gas shift type reaction. It has not been possible from the present data to delineate between the various hydrogen storage mechanisms reported for ceria

The new business of football: a study of current and aspirant football club managers.

Professional football (soccer) in Europe has changed dramatically in the past two decades, largely due to the escalation of media rights deals. Many professional football clubs are now complex businesses, intrinsically concerned with financial matters. Within the rapidly changing business context of football, the aim of this research is to further understand the main issues that are related to a career as a manager. This paper has five sections: (1) we offer an appraisal of the general literature as it applies to professional football management; (2) we introduce the theoretical focus of the article with specific reference to the "career" and describe the context and background to the research; (3) we describe the research methodology and present and discuss the research results, which center on the career development of the manager; the position of a manager in organizational structures, and how the changing organization affects the role of manager; (4) we set out the conclusions and implications of our research; and (5) we offer our plans to progress this research, enabling a new body of knowledge to be developed on this specialized role

Learning to be a professional football manager: a Bourdieusian perspective

This paper draws on the theoretical concepts of Pierre Bourdieu to provide an insight into aspirant football managers’ perceptions of what is required and valued at different stages of their desired managerial career journey. Drawing on interviews with candidates from one cohort of the Scottish Football Association Professional Licence (n = 19), our evidence suggests that aspirant managers have responded to changes in field logic by adopting strategies which place increased emphasis on cultural capital in the form of engagement with educational discourse. While we find evidence of instrumentality in attitudes to education, we also find evidence which emphasises the importance of habitus as an unconscious process. Educational culture is absorbed and embodied by some aspirant managers, which enlightens their actions and encourages them to adopt empowering strategies through which they seek to transform their place in the field. The paper concludes by considering potential implications for governing bodies and clubs

Can older people remember medication reminders presented using synthetic speech?

Reminders are often part of interventions to help older people adhere to complicated medication regimes. Computer-generated (synthetic) speech is ideal for tailoring reminders to different medication regimes. Since synthetic speech may be less intelligible than human speech, in particular under difficult listening conditions, we assessed how well older people can recall synthetic speech reminders for medications. 44 participants aged 50-80 with no cognitive impairment recalled reminders for one or four medications after a short distraction. We varied background noise, speech quality, and message design. Reminders were presented using a human voice and two synthetic voices. Data were analyzed using generalized linear mixed models. Reminder recall was satisfactory if reminders were restricted to one familiar medication, regardless of the voice used. Repeating medication names supported recall of lists of medications. We conclude that spoken reminders should build on familiar information and be integrated with other adherence support measures. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: [email protected] numbered affiliations see end of article